Jordancoln Week
by Just4FunFiction
Summary: This is my response to JaviSuzumiya's prompts that he posted on DeviantArt. Over the course of the week, these one shots will see one of the fandom's most surprisingly popular ships have fun, share some laughs, share some feels, and maybe even a bit more... Cover art by JaviSuzumiya.
1. Day 1- A Selfie Together

**(A/N: Hey, everyone! Thanks for reading! When I saw this on JaviSuzumiya's DA page, I figured I'd take a crack at it myself, and that you guys would be interested if I gave it a shot. I've been working on these prompts at the same time as my other two ongoing stories, so hopefully these should be uploaded on time, one a day along with my regular uploads. I've also noticed from writing these that they're going to vary in length- so far, this is the shortest one of these that I've written, so hopefully you guys don't mind.**

**Thank you for reading, and enjoy!)**

Lincoln found himself laid peacefully on his bed, GamerDude XL in his hands as his thumbs seemingly working automatically as he fought against enemy after enemy as his hero, Ace Savvy. One by one, the robbers, gangsters and street thugs fell to the caped hero's brand of justice, until eventually the screen lit up with the message, **LEVEL COMPLETE**.

"OH, YEAH!" Lincoln cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "It's time, at last- the Card Shark boss battle! If I can beat this, I'll have beaten the main game, and can start a new game plus!" He put on his game face as the screen faded in, showing Ace Savvy standing against the Card Shark, whose particularly large health bar stretched across the top of the screen.

**Ready? FIGHT!**

"Let's go, Ace!" His thumbs went to work once again as he controlled the caped hero's movements, as punches, kicks and card-shaped shurikens were thrown against the villain, dealing sporadic damage to the gargantuan health bar. Lincoln's attempts were not flawless, however, as his own health bar were dealt with blows from the stronger foe, causing the health meter to eventually blink on the screen, signifying that he could not take more hits. 'Come on… you're almost there… one… last… hit… and…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The sudden scream caught Lincoln off guard, meaning he mistimed his attacks and was dealt with a killing blow by the shark villain's fist, depleting the last of his health bar.

**ZERO LIVES REMAINING**

**YOU LOSE**

With a growl of defeat, Lincoln threw his head back against his pillow, the device falling onto his chest. "So close… I was gonna be the first one of my friends to do so, too."

"EMERGENCY SIBLING MEETING! NOW!" He heard Lori scream, quite excitably. Knowing that she would blow a fuse if he kept her waiting, he sighed as he sat up and stood from his bed, turning off the device and placing it on his desk before leaving his room. Making his way towards his eldest sister's bedroom, he felt a tug on his shirt, so he turned to see that it was Lana doing so.

"Any idea what Lori wants?" She asked, to which he shrugged.

"No clue, though it better be important," he replied, slightly irritated. "She made me lose my game."

"Boo hoo, Stinkoln," he heard Lynn taunt, causing him to turn to face her and roll his eyes. "Big whoop- I need to get my workout in, so I can actually do something useful this week."

"Gee, I love how supportive you are, Lynn." She rolled her eyes at the sarcasm dripping from his words, while Lana chuckled behind her hand. "Let's just get this over, so I can try again."

So, they went into Lori's room, where they saw the eldest Loud sister had the biggest smile on her face that she had ever had. After all of the sisters had gathered, she eagerly slammed her shoe on her desk. "This meeting is officially in session!" She spoke.

"Okay, what's going on, bruh?" Luna asked, her arms crossed. "I've got a gig I need to be preparing for."

"And I have a stand up show to perform tomorrow," Luan added. "If I don't sort out my routine, things won't be on the up for me!" She made her infamous laugh at the pun. "Get it?"

After groaning, the rest of her siblings began to speak over one another as to why this meeting was keeping them from what they needed to do, before they heard Lori bang her shoe on the desk once again, silencing their squabbles. "Now, I know you have things to do, and I know this is sudden, but this is literally super important!" She said, not even trying to hide her excitement. "Someone among us has been hiding something very big, and you all need to see!" She then grabbed her laptop and opened it up, beginning to search for something. "Only minutes ago, Whitney texted me, saying that she had seen one my siblings in literally the cutest selfie ever."

"And how, pray tell, is that important?" Lisa asked, considering getting up and leaving before Lori could even show her.

"Give me a second… Ah, here it is!" She sat down on her bed with the lid intentionally lowered, then beckoned for her sisters to surround her, which they did. "Because, Lisa, that selfie is… this!"

She lifted the lid, and upon seeing the picture in question, Lincoln instantly put his hands on his ears to protect them from the mother of all screams that came from his ten sisters. He could imagine that Mr Grouse was probably going to complain because of the noise, and had they been looking, they would've seen a cyclist get startled by the screams, and fall off his bike, but it didn't matter, because they were all focused on the picture now shown on Lori's laptop- a selfie of Lincoln with a girl with brown hair in a braided ponytail with a blue bow, wearing a yellow shirt. More importantly, however, she was pressing a kiss against the boy's cheek, causing him to look surprised.

Knowing what was to come, Lincoln attempted to slip off the bed and get away, but he felt nine pairs of hands grab hold of him, making him fearfully gulp under their giddy gazes. "Lincoln…" Lori told him. "Tell… us… EVERYTHING!"

"O-O-Okay… Just… let me breathe?" They obliged, jumping onto the other bed so that he couldn't attempt an escape. After a moment to calm his nerves, he began to speak. "So, as you can maybe tell from the picture, I didn't know she was going to do… that."

Luna was the first one to speak about the boy's blushing cheeks. "But you liked it, didn't you? And then you kissed the girl, and you liked it!"

His cheeks grew redder. "I didn't kiss her, I can tell you that for certain. Though… it wasn't bad… I guess."

"So, Linky," Leni spoke, leaning forward, "how did this happen?"

"Judging on our lack of knowledge of this occurrence, it is my deduction that this transpired within the previous twenty four hours," Lisa said, wearing a grin that she didn't normally wear even during her research. "In other words, this happened yesterday."

He nodded. "Yeah. You probably remember I was originally going to Gus' to hang out with the guys, but… well, plans changed."

* * *

_As Lincoln walked with a happy smile, he saw that one of the workers at Gus' was stood outside with a frown on his face. Curious, Lincoln approached him. "Excuse me," he asked, gaining their attention. "Is everything okay?"_

"_Hey, kid," he sighed. "Sorry, but the arcade had to close early for the day. A fuse blew, meaning all the machines are off. We've got an electrician coming, but we won't be able to open again for a few days."_

_It was Lincoln's turn to frown. "Wow, that sucks. I was looking forward to hanging out with my friends."_

"_You're not the only one. Already had to turn a few kids away."_

"_Was one of them a boy with glasses and a blue and green striped shirt?" The employee thought back, then nodded. "Okay. Well, thanks for letting me know. Hope the arcade opens soon."_

"_Thanks, kid. Take care."_

_Lincoln nodded, before turning around and beginning to make his way home. 'Dang it… was really looking forward to this.' As he walked, his eyes glanced to the park. 'Might as well do something, I guess.' He crossed over the road and entered the park, feeling the cool breeze blowing through the trees against his neck. Looking around, he could see a variety of people were enjoying the sunny day- an elderly couple sat on bench, a couple of young adults tossing the pigskin back and forth, a few mothers watching their young children play on the swings and the monkey bars. He moved to the side to avoid being knocked over by a kid on a skateboard as he walked alongside the pond, looking into the glistening water. 'It's a pretty nice day, actually. I wonder if anyone else is here?'_

_As he continued walking, he saw something heading his way, and eventually landing by his feet. Looking down, he saw the blue frisbee and picked it up, though when he looked ahead, he soon realised that this was a mistake, as he felt a weight crash into him, knocking him onto his back. After the initial impact disoriented him for a few seconds, he looked down to his chest and saw a white furred dog with a black nose and black spots, wearing a red bandana. It held the frisbee in its mouth, and was growling at Lincoln, making him nervous. "Uh… nice doggy?"_

"_Ajax! Come back here!" He heard a familiar voice call out, which made the dog get off his chest. This allowed him to sit up and see a girl in a yellow shirt and blue skirt, with her brown hair in a braided ponytail with a blue bow that matched her skirt. She had a worried look on her face as she stood over the boy. "Lincoln! Are you okay?"_

"_Yeah, I'm okay," he replied, accepting her hand as she held it out and getting to his feet._

"_I'm sorry about that."_

"_Don't worry, it was an accident. No harm done."_

_She gave a small giggle at his words, which made him smile. "So, Lincoln, what brings you here?"_

"_Well, I was going to meet the guys at the arcade, but it closed early due to electrical issues, so I thought I'd come here for a bit." He looked down at the dog, who was still growling at him. "So, I'm guessing you're walking your dog?"_

_She nodded. "His name's Ajax, had him for a couple of years now. You wanna say hi?"_

"_Uh… that's okay, I don't think he likes me that much."_

"_Aww, come on, he's a sweetie when he gets to know you. Here." She took hold of Lincoln's hand and moved it so it was in front of the dog, causing Lincoln to get down to his knee. "Hold it out flat so he can get your scent." With a gulp, Lincoln obliged. Ajax spat out the frisbee and approached the hand, tentatively staring at it, then at Lincoln, before giving the hand a sniff. Lincoln thought that Ajax was about to bite him, but to his surprise, he felt a small lick on his fingers instead, making him realise that Ajax was warming up to him. Feeling a bit bold, he moved his hand and scratched behind the dog's ear, making it pant happily and wag its tail. "See?" Jordan said ,happily. "He just needed to get to know you better."_

"_I think you're right," he admitted. "He's pretty cool, actually. When he's not tearing up my clothes, that is."_

_She chuckled nervously, a faint pink tint appearing on her cheeks. "Yeah… sorry about that, by the way."_

"_Hey, I'm sorry for almost ruining your party."_

"_Don't be, you didn't." At that moment, she felt a little patting on her leg, so she looked and saw Ajax trying to get her attention with the frisbee. "Looks like Ajax wants to keep playing." She looked back at the boy. "What do you say, Linc? Wanna join us?"_

"_Sure." So, for the next hour, the two elementary schoolers played fetch with the dog, and threw the frisbee between each other, until they were eventually worn out. After getting popsicles from a local vendor, the two sat down by a fountain and took the opportunity to just relax. "You know, I'm glad I bumped into you today."_

_She smiled at the white haired boy. "Aww, thanks, Lincoln!" She replied. "It's been fun hanging out with you too." She looked down upon hearing her dog bark, which made her chuckle. "I think Ajax feels the same." The two laughed together, before Jordan got an idea and pulled her phone. "How about a photo to celebrate?"_

"_Sure." The two shuffled together as Jordan held her phone up, turning on the camera. "Ready?"_

"_One sec." She adjusted the settings to make sure they were both in the shot, while the two made funny faces. "Alright, ready. Three… two… one…" At the last second, she kissed him on the cheek, catching him by surprise as her phone took the picture. As she put her phone down, she looked at him with red cheeks as he looked at her in surprise. "Sorry, just… got carried away."_

_Though he too was blushing, he smiled. "It's okay." Looking down at the picture she had just taken, his eyes widened a smidge. "Wow! That's a pretty good selfie!"_

"_You think?"_

"_I do!" She gave a small giggle again, which made him laugh as well. Before he could say anything else, though, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, so he took it out and saw that his mother was wondering where he was. "That's my mom, I should be heading back."_

"_Okay. I should probably take Ajax home too."_

_The two then stood up, with Jordan grabbing Ajax's leash. "Hey, Jordan? Would you mind if I walked you home?"_

_Though surprised, she was all too eager to nod. "I'd like that."_

* * *

"So, I walked her home, and then I came back here," Lincoln finished, his sisters gripped on his story. They all went "Aww" at how sweet it sounded.

"Who knew you were such a little ladies man, bro?" Luna cooed.

"Yeah, that was literally so chivalrous of you," Lori remarked, her hands over her heart.

"Yeah, though getting knocked over by a dog? Weak," Lynn added, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "We're gonna have to buff you up for your girlfriend."

"Woah, woah, wait a minute!" Lincoln interrupted before his sisters could get too excited. "Girl Jordan is not my girlfriend!"

Lori simply smirked. "Girl Jordan, huh? A little pet name for her?"

Lincoln deadpanned at the suggestion. "Everyone at school calls her that, there's a girl Jordan and a boy Jordan."

"Well then, you better think of a better nickname for her," Luan suggested with a cheesy grin. "Otherwise, someone might nick your girl!" She laughed as only she did, following it up with a "Get it?"

"Okay, first of all, that one wasn't bad," Lincoln pointed out, which made the comedienne beam even more. "And second of all, she's not 'my' girl! She's a friend, that's all."

"But I bet you would just _love_ it if she was," Lola teased.

"Yeah, Linky, you two would be, like, totes adorbs together!" Leni added.

"Not the point!" Lincoln stressed. "Me and her are friends, nothing more, nothing less."

"Then tell me this, little bro," Luna spoke up, leaning forward in her seated position. "Do you think she's pretty?"

Her singsong tone did the opposite of lessen the blush that appeared on his cheeks, which caused him to pout, look away and cross his arms. "Th-that's not the point…" The girls all looked at each other, before squealing once more, catching their brother off guard long enough for them to envelope him in a group hug. "Ugh… I bet Girl Jordan doesn't have to deal with this."

* * *

At that same time, Girl Jordan was sat on her bed, looking at the same picture that Lincoln's sister had found, and that she had posted on her InstaSnap account. 'I hope Lincoln doesn't get upset if he finds out,' she thought to herself, a small smile on her face. 'I didn't even think about how he might react, I just… thought it was cute. Especially seeing his shocked face like that.' She gave a giggle as her cheeks became tinted pink, just as someone left a comment saying, _how long have you had a boyfriend?_ 'Maybe one day, I can tell him. Maybe…'


	2. Day 2- Genderswapped

Walking down the sidewalk of Franklin Avenue, Royal Woods, was a boy wearing a yellow t-shirt, blue jean shorts, black sneakers with white socks, and a blue bandana tied around his head that matched his shorts, holding back his brown shaggy hair. His face was showing that he was deep in thought, and absolutely guiltridden. 'I can't believe I did that,' he thought, looking down to the bouquet of white lilies in his hand. 'I never meant to hurt her like that… and we were such good friends, too. She must hate me right now.'

* * *

_The previous day, the boy was walking from one class to another, when he bumped into a girl wearing an orange blouse, blue skirt, white socks and red slip on shoes. She had long, white hair that had an orange clip holding some of her snowy locks in place, and freckles adorning her cheeks that he found to be quite cute. "Hey, Linka," he greeted, getting her to look at him and smile._

"_Hey, Boy Jordan!" She greeted back, her chirpy voice making his heart flutter. "How are you?"_

"_Good, thank you. How are you?"_

"_I'm good too, thanks. So, history class was a bore, huh?"_

"_Oh my God, tell me about it! I'd take math class over that lesson! I mean, seriously, why can't they teach us about something cool, like vikings or Romans?"_

_She giggled. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I get that it's on the curriculum or whatever, but liven it up a bit! Victorian times are so boring!" He laughed, which made her giggle some more. "You know, I like talking with you, Jordan."_

_His cheeks heated up a bit. "You… you do?"_

_She nodded. "Yeah, you're a pretty cool guy. Most of the guys at this school aren't like you, and when you live with ten brothers who don't really get me that much, it's nice to talk with a boy that does."_

_His cheeks went even redder as a small, goofy grin appeared on his face. "T-thanks. You're pretty cool too, Linka. For a girl, that is."_

_She laughed heartily, pushing light on his shoulder, which he thought would honestly turn him into putty, with how goopy his heart felt being around her. As they continued talking, they eventually reached the gymnasium. "Well, guess I'll see you later, then."_

"_Oh, okay. I'll see you later, Linka." He waved to her and she waved back as they went to their respective changing rooms. Putting his gym bag on a bench, he walked over to four guys, all wearing the school PE kit of red shorts and shirts- one with light skin and short black hair, one with dark skin and black dreads, one with light skin and long brown hair, and one with light skin and short brown hair spiked up. "Hey, guys."_

"_Hey, Romeo," Marty, the one with spiked hair, greeted with a douchey grin. "What, was Snow White keeping you busy?"_

_Jordan rolled his eyes. "Ugh, you guys are the worst."_

"_Seriously, dude," the one with short black hair, Matt, said. "Why haven't you made your move on her?"_

"_Yeah, you're gonna miss your chance if you don't soon," Joe, the dark skinned boy, added. "I've heard rumours that Ronaldo had his sights on her before he moved away, so who knows who's next to step up to the plate."_

_Jordan growled, both from the memory of Ronaldo Antonio Santiago, a boy of Latin descent who used to bully Linka before he moved away, and from Joe's choice of phrase. "First of all, don't say stuff like that about her, or I'll kick your ass." Joe simply stuck his tongue out as Jordan traded his yellow shirt for his red gym shirt. "But, yeah, I don't want to ruin it. She's my friend at the moment, and I don't want to screw that up if I tell her how I feel. I don't even think she likes me like that."_

"_You spend so much time staring at her, yet you can't see that she likes you?" The long haired boy, Brady, quipped. "You're the only boy in our grade that she actually talks to. The only other boys in the whole school that she talks to are her little brothers."_

"_That doesn't mean she likes me. Also, I don't stare at her." The four other boys all laughed, as if to say, "yeah right". "Plus, how could I even talk to her without her brother's beating me up?"_

"_By doing it when they're not around," Marty suggested. "Pretty simple. Though, yeah, how do her parents deal with that many kids?"_

"_The same way they had them," Matt told Marty, both of them laughing while Jordan just groaned._

"_You know, ever since you found your dads catalogs, you've become such pigs," he pointed out, pulling up his gym shorts._

"_Please, like you don't think her mom's hot," Joe argued with a raised eyebrow._

"_Not really."_

"_That's 'cause you're too busy fantasising about you and Linka," Brady quipped, prompting him and the other three boys to start making kissy noises, much to Jordan's chagrin._

"_Dicks."_

* * *

"_Alright!" Coach Pakowski shouted out, holding her whistle in her hand as the students lined up in two teams on either side of the gymnasium. "When I blow my whistle, run forward to try and grab one of the balls, then get back to the red line at the edge of the floor. When I blow my whistle a second time, the game starts. You hear me, Boy Jordan?" He rolled his eyes in response, then threw a thumbs up her way. "Alright. Get ready…"_

_She blew her whistle, and the kids all ran forward to the centre of the floor, where six red dodgeballs lay waiting. As he reached for one of the balls, he felt a hand on top of his, and looked up to see Linka looking back at him, both kids blushing madly, before he held out the dodgeball for her to take. "Here, uh… you have it," he shyly offered._

"_Thank you," she replied, accepting the offering. "Uh… good luck."_

"_Y-you too." They then ran back to their teams, where Jordan was met with the snarky grins of his friends. "Sh-shut up."_

"_Alright!" Coach Pakowski called out once more. "You get hit in the head, arms or chest, you're out. You catch a ball, they're out and your teammate comes back in. If I say you're out, stand to the side- you argue, you do twenty push ups. Last team standing wins. Ready?"_

_She blew into the whistle once more, and the game was on, which meant Jordan became cocky- it was no secret to anyone in the school, and even some outside of it, that he was the dodgeball king of Royal Woods, and he wasted no time in showing it. The second he was clear to, he took a ball from Marty and used it to hit a kid square in the chest, eliminating them. He followed this up by catching an oncoming ball and throwing at another of his opponents, taking both out of the game. The game didn't last long, as even though his teammates were nowhere near as good as he was, and a good few of them were also eliminated, many of Jordan's opponents fell to him and him alone. At one point, when it was his team versus Linka, Joe and one of Linka's friends called Liah, Jordan caught a ball thrown at him by Linka, who cheekily stuck her tongue out at him, before walking away. While he felt a little bad for her, he had to focus on the game, rolling to the side to avoid a ball aimed for his head. Picking a ball up off the floor, he had Joe in his sights, took aim and threw._

_The scream that came, however, definitely did not belong to Joe. Upon hearing it, Jordan looked and his stomach dropped when he heard it. "Linka!" He yelled, throwing the game to one side so he could run over to her. She was laying on the floor, shivering as she audibly sobbed with her hand covering her eye. "Oh my gosh, Linka, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"_

_She looked up at him, her teary eyes making his stomach sink even lower. "Why did you do that?"_

"_I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean to, I-" She chose not to listen, instead getting up and running out of the gymnasium. "Linka!"_

_He wanted to run after her, but a hand on his chest made him stop. He looked and saw a dark skinned girl with glasses and curly hair in two pigtails, who he recognised to be Linka's best friend Claudia, and she did not look happy. "Don't even bother," she coldly told him, before running after her friend. Before he could say anything else, he felt a hand on his shoulder, which belonged to Coach Pakowski._

"_You better come with me," she told him, leading him towards her office._

* * *

'I don't even care that I almost got detention,' he thought, as he neared his destination. 'I just wish I could have apologised to her, but... she didn't want to speak to me. I don't blame her… I just hope she'll let me speak today.' As he reached the end of the street, he saw a house that had toys littering the front and back yards, including a few on the roof. 'This must be what it's like with eleven children… can't say I envy her. Still, that's not why I'm here.' He took a deep breath and said to himself, "this is it. I'm gonna say what I have to say, and... if she doesn't want anything to do with me..." He could feel his stomach sinking at the thought of it. "... so be it."

As he approached the front door, he steeled himself to knock, but before he could, he felt someone tap his shoulder, causing him to turn round in surprise. Stood in front of him was a boy a few years older than him with brown hair that had the sides shaved. He was wearing a purple shirt with a skull under a denim waistcoat, black jeans with two white studded belts, purple boots and what appeared to be paperclips for earrings. He stared down the elementary schooler. "What are you doing here?" He asked, his voice gruff.

Jordan gulped, feeling intimidated by the boy. "I, um… I-I came to see Linka. I need to tell her something."

This didn't seem to sit well with the older boy, who narrowed his eyes. "Oh, really? And, why's that? You think you can take advantage of my sister while she's upset?"

"What?! No, I would never do that! I-" He paused for a second, letting the rocker's words sink in. "She's upset?"

"Yeah, some jerk at school hurt her, and she was crying for hours yesterday. She wouldn't tell us anymore than-" He stopped when he saw the younger boy look down, seemingly in guilt, and when it clicked in his mind, his vision turned red. "YOU!" He grabbed Jordan by the collar of his shirt and forced him into the house through the door. "I'M GONNA BREAK YOUR BLOODY TEETH IN, YOU JERK!"

"What's going on in there?!" They heard a man shout, and a moment later, a man and woman walked into the room. One was a balding, brown haired man, wearing a pink button up shirt and purplish brown trousers, and one was a long haired blond woman, wearing a green chequered shirt under a dark green sweater and brown trousers. Upon seeing Luke lifting the boy off of the ground, he frowned at his son. "Luke, let him go."

"No way, Pop Star!" Luke argued. "This is the jerk that hurt Linka!"

"WHAT?!" a collection of voices yelled from upstairs, and within seconds, nine more boys of varying ages made their way down the stairs, surrounding the defenceless Jordan and yelling at him. Jordan could only cower in the rocker's grasp and close his eyes as they yelled their threats and prepared to pummel him, until they heard a loud whistling sound.

"Boys! Let him go!" The woman yelled, to which the ten Loud boys argued. "NOW!" Knowing not to push her any further, the boys relented, with Luke putting Jordan back on the ground, but not without shooting him a death glare. "Upstairs."

They begrudgingly made their way up the stairs, muttering how that Jordan had gotten off easy. Once they were gone, Jordan turned to the two adults. "Thank you, Mrs Loud," he told her.

"Don't thank her yet," Mr Loud told him back, crossing his arms and shooting him a stern glare. "Is what my boys said true? Did you hurt my little girl?"

Knowing there was no way to hide it even if he wanted to, Jordan looked down and sadly nodded. "I'm afraid so… I never meant to, I swear. I thought me and Linka were good friends, and I never did anything to hurt her before."

While Mr Loud looked ready to kick him out, Mrs Loud stopped by holding a hand in front of him. "Let me handle this, Lynn," she told him, then approached the boy and lifted his head up so she could look him in the eye, allowing her to see his guilt. "Young man, my daughter is very important to me, and I get the feeling she might be to you." His cheeks heating up betrayed him, confirming that idea. "So, please... can you tell me how it happened?"

With a gulp, he spoke again. "Yes, ma'am. We were playing dodgeball in gym, and when I went to throw the ball at someone else, I don't know if I missed or they dodged, but I accidentally hit Linka. I didn't realise until I saw her on the floor, and I ran over to check on her, but… she ran off before I could apologise properly." She could hear the slight crack in his voice, letting him know that he was quite upset over this. "I wish I could take it back, more than anything… but I know that I can't. I don't even know if Linka will forgive me, but I just want to try and tell her how sorry I am."

While hearing that he had hurt her daughter, intentionally or not, had made her upset, she could tell that the boy was being genuine. "Are those lilies?" She asked, confusing him but he nodded anyway. "I think Linka would really like them." She turned to her husband. "Lynn, would you get Linka for us? And make sure the boys stay in their rooms."

Begrudgingly, he accepted, making his way up the stairs. When he returned a moment later, Jordan saw Linka following, wearing her usual attire. However, it was the bruising over her eye that stood out to him, making his already immense guilt grow even more. She saw Jordan, and became confused. "Jordan?" She asked, her voice quieter than he was used to. "What are you doing here?"

'Here goes nothing,' he thought, taking a deep breath. "I, uh… I came to… to see you," he told her as she approached him. "Uh… here, these are… for you."

He presented the flowers to her, and as she took them, he saw her eyes light up a little. "Lilies… they're my favourite."

He nodded. "Yeah, I… I think I remember you saying that."

"We'll be upstairs if you need us," Mrs Loud told them, before leading her husband up the staircase, causing a stampede of feet on the landing.

"My brothers," Linka sighed with a shake of her head, then looked to her 'guest'. "Do you... want to sit down?"

He nodded, taking his seat on the couch next to her. "How, uh… how is your…"

"My eye?" He nodded. "It's okay. Bruised, but it's not sore today." Turning to look at him, she saw his head hung low. "Jordan… why are you here?"

"I came, because… I wanted to apologise," he confessed, finally looking up to look at her. "When I saw you on the ground, covering your eye… I felt awful. I never wanted to hurt you, and I never meant for the ball to even hit you- Seriously, ask Joe. I made sure to hit him for real after that." She gave a small giggle at that, which made him feel slightly better, before he sighed. "I'm so, so, so sorry, Linka."

She looked down at the lilies in her hands, and told him, "I'm sorry too, Jordan. I overreacted."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did! I should have known it was an accident. You're too sweet to do this on purpose." He felt a blush come to his cheeks. "Besides, I probably should've expected it. It's dodgeball, and it's you- you throw like a freaking tank."

This made the two kids laugh loudly, then look at each other, and in any other situation, Jordan would have gotten lost in her eyes. "So… do you forgive me?"

She nodded. "Come here." She held her arms out, and the two kids hugged each other, smiles on their faces now that the situation was resolved, while Jordan's heart was beating faster than ever from the contact. The two held it for a good five seconds, before Linka let go. "So, do you need to go back home, or do you have time to hang out? I got the new Crush Sisters game on the Flip."

He thought about it for a moment, then decided, "I think I can spare an hour." So, as she got up to set up her console, he sat back and let his smile grow even bigger and a content sigh escaped his lips, knowing that things had worked out in the end.


	3. Day 3- At The Beach

It was a beautiful day at Aloha Beach, the golden sand and the deep blue waters glistening under the clear, sunny sky. Many beach goers were taking advantage of the beautiful weather, with kids building sandcastles, people playing volleyball, friends swimming in the water and adults of just about every age working on their tans.

On the road near the beach, the Loud family were getting out of Vanzilla, all wearing their beach outfits. "Okay, Loud fam!" Lynn Sr announced, making his kids cringe at his use of 'fam'. "We're here! We're gonna be here for most of the day, and grab dinner on the way home, so I want you to be on your best behaviour."

"And if I get any complaints, then I will take you away from whatever you are doing and make you sit with your father and me," Rita warned. "That means no asking people for samples, no chicken fights if they don't agree, no asking about death to strangers, and no pranks. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, mom!" Her kids replied, with Lily giving a happy giggle in agreement.

"That's good. In that case, while your father and I set up camp, you go and have fun, but don't go too far!"

The kids all voiced their agreement, before grabbing their beach things and running onto the sandy surface. Turning to her husband, Rita asked, "you brought everything, right?"

"Yep! I've got the towels, the umbrellas, the food's in the hamper, the drinks are in the cooler, I've got spare sunscreen, diapers and everything else we could need."

"Rita? Rita Loud?" They heard a woman call to them. Turning in the direction the voice came from, they saw a woman in her early forties with short brown hair, wearing a white t-shirt with a pink summer skirt, pink sandals, a brown sun hat and sunglasses. Stood next to her was a man with lighter brown hair, wearing a red t-shirt and black shorts, plus sunglasses propped on his head. "I thought I recognised you!"

"Sarah, hi!" Rita greeted, walking up to give the woman a hug.

"Hey there," the man greeted to Lynn, "I'm Brad."

"Lynn Sr," the Loud father responded, shaking his hand.

"So, your family are here too, huh?" Rita asked the other woman.

"Yeah, we got here with Jordan about ten minutes ago."

"Seems we had the same idea, huh?"

"Looks that way. Your son's name is Lincoln, right? I think I remember Jordan mentioning him."

Rita nodded. "Yeah, I think they're in the same homeroom."

"Well, hey," Brad spoke up, "since we're all here with our kids, why don't you set your camp up near ours? We've got plenty of room!"

"Well, that sounds like a great idea!" Lynn replied. "We'd love to!"

So, the Loud parents made their way onto the beach as they began to carry their stuff to set up camp. Meanwhile, Lincoln, in his orange trunks, decided to go straight toward the water, testing the temperature. "Ooh… that's refreshing!" He sighed as the water flowed around his tootsies, before he turned to the viewer. "Well, it's another Loud family outing to Aloha Beach, and thankfully, I don't have to wear a mascot outfit this time." He frowned and shuddered at the memory. "Yeah, that was one of our family's… darker times…" He shook his head clear of these depressing thoughts. "Still, I'm looking forward to having fun with my family." As he said this, he felt a splash of water hit him, and turned to see that a beach ball had landed in the water near him. Picking it up, he looked around until he saw a familiar face. "Jordan?"

"Hey, Lincoln!" She greeted, wading through the water to get closer to him. He saw that she was wearing a one piece swimsuit the same shade of yellow as her usual shirt. "Funny seeing you here. I'm guessing you came with your family?"

"Yeah, they're… well, look anywhere and you'll likely find one of them." She giggled at his joke. "So, how long have you been here?"

"My parents and I only got here about ten, fifteen minutes ago. We got lucky and beat the traffic."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. As much as I love my sisters, being stuck in traffic with them can be a nightmare."

She laughed harder this time, making him laugh with her. "I'll bet. Since it looks like we're all gonna be spending the day here, mind if I join you guys?"

"Sure! Just to let you know, when it comes to me and other girls, my sisters tend to come to the assumption that we're… well, I think you can guess."

Though she blushed a little at the suggestion, she rolled her eyes. "Really? Well, I think I can tolerate that, even if I have to set them straight about it."

"If you can throw this beach ball like you can a dodgeball, I think they'll get the message."

Once again, she laughed, before following the boy towards the others. Of his sisters, Lynn was the first one to see the two of them coming towards them. "Hey, Stinkoln!" She called, getting their attention as she jogged over, volleyball under her arm. "You up for some volleyball?"

"I dunno, Lynn," he replied. "You know how competitive you get."

"Ah, come on, it'll be fun! I promise, I won't school you too bad in front of your girlfriend."

"First of all, he's not my boyfriend," Jordan insisted, donning a cocky grin. "Besides, if we do it two on two, then you've got no chance of beating me and Lincoln."

Just like that, the fire in Lynn's eyes was lit. "Is that a challenge?"

Jordan stepped forward, the jock now toe-to-toe with her. "You bet it is."

Lynn locked eyes with her challenger for a few seconds, then smirked. "Alright, you're on." She turned her head and looked at the rocker. "Hey, Luna! Volleyball, two versus two, you and me versus these two! You in?"

"Sure thing, brah!" She called back, running over to where there was a spare volleyball net, with her and Lynn standing on one side of the net, and Lincoln and Jordan on the other. "Alright, so what we playing to?"

"I don't wanna crush the kids too bad," Lynn taunted. "Let's do one set, first to eleven."

"Lynn, you're two years older than us," Lincoln pointed out.

"No matter," Jordan told him. "That just means we'll beat her in even less time. We'll even give you the first serve, Lynn."

"Oh, ho, it is ON!"

Lynn took her position, held the ball in one hand and served it to the other team. Jordan was the first one to get to it, hitting it up for Lincoln, who hit it up for her to send back to the other side. Lynn got to the ball, hitting it to Luna who sent it up for Lynn to smash down, but Jordan was quick enough to block it, meaning the ball fell down by Luna's feet. As Jordan celebrated by giving Lincoln a high five, Lynn simply scoffed. "Okay. You wanna play for real, we can play for real."

So, the four of them kept playing for a good fifteen minutes, with the score going back and forth in favour of either team. It was mostly Jordan and Lynn seeing who would beat the other, with Luna and Lincoln mostly being the supporting players for their teams. After the scores reached 10-9 in favour of Lynn and Luna, Jordan would get a drop shot to tie things up.

"Alright, rather than do the whole 'win by two' deal, let's make this match point," Jordan suggested. "Otherwise, we could be hear for ages."

"You know, you can call it quits if you like," Lynn taunted again, to which Jordan scoffed and shook her head. "Suit yourself."

She served up the ball once more, sending it right to Jordan. She hit it to Lincoln, who knocked it up for her to spike over the net. Lynn was quick to reach it, hitting it to Luna, who served it up, and Lynn faked her direction, sending it to Lincoln instead. The startled boy got his hands up, knocking it far to the side. Jordan dove for it, knocking the ball up and shouting "GO FOR IT" to the boy, who leapt and sent the ball flying towards Luna with surprising force. The rocker tried to control it, but she only succeeded in sending it further away, and when Lynn tried to dive for it, she was only able to get fingertips to it before it fell to the floor.

"We did it…" Lincoln said out of shock, and when he turned to Jordan, his grin mirrored her own. "We did it!"

She ran up to him and threw her arms around him, the two celebrating with a hug. "Lincoln, you were awesome!" She told him.

"Hey, you were the awesome one! I just helped."

She let go of the hug and lightly slapped him on the chest. "Come on, I could never have made that last shot."

The two went back and forth with their compliments, until Luna approached them. "Hey, dudes!" She said, getting them to look as she held a hand out. "Good game, bruh."

Lincoln and Jordan smiled, taking it in turn to shake the high schooler's hand. When Jordan saw Lynn approaching, she held her hand out to the jock. "Good game, Lynn."

Lynn looked at the hand, then back at Jordan, before grinning and shaking the hand. "Good game," she replied. "You've got game, I'll give you that. Maybe now you're around, my brother might actually get off his butt once in a while and do some exercise."

"You do know we're not-" Lynn didn't let her finish, walking away. Jordan merely shrugged. "Guess she had something else to do."

* * *

From there, she and Lincoln spent more time with the rest of his sisters, first working with the twins to build sandcastles- while Jordan and Lola's had a better design, Lana and Lincoln's turned out to be more structurally sound when one of Lola's spires fell down and brought the whole castle down with it, meaning that Lana and Lincoln were the winners. After that, the two of them went swimming in the water for a bit, tossing the beach ball back and forth between them until Lynn came in for a chicken fight, which ended with Lana pushing Jordan off of Lincoln's shoulders, much to everyone's amusement.

After that, they returned to shore for lunch, which was shared between the two families. When Lily proved to be fussy, it was Jordan who was able to get her to eat, which looked adorable to both her parents and the Louds. Once everyone had eaten, Lincoln helped with burying Lucy in the sand, the goth enjoying it as stoically as one would expect, before he, Jordan and the rest of his sisters began playing with the beach ball again, this time on the sand rather than in the water.

After that, Lincoln and Jordan decided to surf for a bit, the two just sat on their boards next to each other for the moment. "I don't think I've ever had this much fun at the beach," Jordan told her friend.

"Really?" He asked, to which she nodded.

"You're lucky, you know. I can imagine having that many sisters would be a hassle at times, but at the same time, you've got ten sisters who love you."

"Yeah… don't get me wrong, sometimes it's hard being the only boy in the house. But, at the same time, I never get lonely, and as much trouble as they can cause, I wouldn't trade it for anything."

"That's sweet, Lincoln. You really do care about them." He smiled back at her, before she looked her head and her eyes showed her excitement. "Okay, this is the one! Let's go for it!"

He looked ahead and saw that there was a wave coming towards them. "You sure?" She nodded, so he relented. "Alright. Let's do it."

The two began to paddle their way towards the wave, then started to get up on their boards. Lincoln wobbled a bit as he went from his knee to his feet, but he was able to stand up, while Jordan smoothly transitioned to a standing position. The two prepared themselves as the wave reached them, and when they hit it, Lincoln was sent straight off his board, holding his breath until he resurfaced a couple of seconds later with a gasp. He swam over to his board and held onto it for a second while he steadied his breathing, but when he saw Jordan's board a little bit further ahead, he became worried when he didn't see her. "Jordan?" He called out, trying to see if she was around. When he saw her bow floating in the water a small distance from her board, his worry grew. 'Oh no!'

Taking a deep breath, he dove under the water, trying to ignore the saltiness of the water stinging his eyes. When he saw her, she was struggling to free herself from what looked to be some seaweed that had trapped itself around her ankle, putting him on alert. Knowing there was no time to waste, he swam over, grabbed her leg and pulled it free, before grabbing her and bringing them both to the surface. She began to splutter and cough as she tried to refill her lungs, so he waded over to their boards and helped her onto it, laying her back onto it. "Let's get back to shore," he told her, before beginning to push her board back towards shore.

As they neared the beach, Lori looked up from her book and saw the two, takin her sunglasses away from her eyes. "Something's wrong," she realised, putting her tanning mirror down next to her beach towel and getting to her feet. As she ran over to them, most of her sisters saw this and decided to follow her. When they neared the shoreline, the sisters saw Jordan on her board and began talking over each other, asking what had happened. "Guys, stop!" Lori ordered. "Don't overwhelm them!" Once they were quiet, Lori walked up to Lincoln. "What happened?"

"We were surfing, and when we hit the wave, I don't know what happened, but Jordan got her ankle caught," he explained, still a bit emotional after what happened. "Had to try and get her free or she would have drowned."

"Jordan? Jordan!" They heard someone yell, and turned to see Jordan's parents rushing towards them with a lifeguard. "Oh, my sweet baby, are you okay?"

Jordan coughed out a little bit more water as the lifeguard helped her off the board. "I'm… okay, mom," she weakly replied, before coughing a bit more.

"Take it easy, Miss," the lifeguard suggested, helping her to her feet. "We're gonna get you checked out just to be sure, okay?"

She nodded, before the lifeguard led her and her mother toward the lifeguard outpost. Brad, meanwhile, turned to Lincoln and asked, "Lincoln, I have to know… what happened out there?"

"We were… were just surfing, and the wave… it must have pulled her under, because her foot got… trapped on something."

The man knelt down, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder just as he was getting worked up. "Young man, you saved my daughter's life. My wife and I, we owe you."

Lincoln shook his head. "No… if I hadn't suggested we go surfing, this wouldn't have happened."

"No, Lincoln. This is not your fault. Were it not for you, my daughter… she might have…" He had to take a deep breath to prevent himself for crying. "Thank you."

With that, he walked away to check on his daughter. While Lincoln didn't say anything, Lori could hear a small sniffling emanating from her brother, and when she bent down to his height, she could see tears coming from her eyes. "Lincoln? Are you okay?"

"… that was… the scariest moment of my life…" Her heart broke at his sad voice, urging her to wrap her arms around him and pull him towards her chest, feeling his body shake with every sniffle as her sisters joined in.

"It's okay, Lincoln," she whispered soothingly. "It was scary, but it's over now. You pulled through, and you saved her. She's okay."

"But… she almost wasn't… and it would have been my fault."

"Linky, don't say that," he heard Leni tell him.

"Yeah, big brother," Lana said optimistically. "You're a hero!"

"I don't feel like one…"

Hearing him mutter this, Luna reached over and gently petted his head. "I doubt she thinks so, dude," she reminded him. "I think she's so glad you were there for her, when she needed you most."

"You think?"

"Uh Huh."

He couldn't help but smile, his sisters knowing just what to say to cheer him up. "Thanks, girls." As they released the group hug, Lincoln realised that there was something by his foot, and upon further inspection, he realised what it was. "That's Jordan's bow. How did that get here?" He reached down and picked it up- it was completely soaked, but other than that, it was fine. "I must have got it caught on me or something when bringing her to shore."

"You should go return it to her," Lori suggested. "Plus, I'm sure she'll want to thank you."

"Are you sure?" She nodded. "Well… I guess you're right."

"Hey, bro, I'm gonna swim out and grab your board," Lynn told her brother, making him smile.

"Thanks, Lynn," he replied, to which she nodded before heading to the water. While his sisters went back to doing their thing (or, in Lori's case, letting their parents know what had happened), Lincoln turned his sights to the lifeguard outpost and headed towards it. When he reached it, the lifeguard came out, smiling when he saw the boy.

"Hey, it's the man of the hour," he greeted. "Good job with the rescue, kid. We were about to send someone out when we saw you dive under."

"Is, um… is Jordan okay?" Lincoln timidly asked.

"Yeah, she's doing okay, bud. She's a little startled, but that's natural. Fortunately, you got to her before she started actually drowning, so there's nothing serious."

Lincoln gave out a sigh of relief upon hearing this. "Thank goodness… is it okay if I see her?"

"Go for it, bud. She's in there with her parents."

"Thank you." So, while the lifeguard went on patrol, Lincoln walked up the ramp of the outpost and entered, where he saw Jordan sat in a chair with a towel wrapped around her, while her parents stood either side of her. "Hey, Jordan."

She looked up when she heard the boy, and gave him a small smile. "Lincoln… hey," she greeted.

"How are you feeling?"

"Not great, but a little better."

"Do you want us to get you anything, sweetie?" Sarah asked.

"Just a water."

"Okay. We'll be right back."

The two adults left the outpost, though not without giving Lincoln an appreciative smile. Once they were alone, Lincoln sat down next to Jordan, neither knowing what to say until Lincoln eventually spoke up. "I, uh, I managed to get your bow," he told her, holding it up for her. Upon seeing it, she reached up to her head, and realised that it was indeed her bow.

"Oh! Thank you, Lincoln," she replied, taking the bow. "Honestly, I didn't even think about that."

"Yeah…"

She could tell from how quickly he went silent again that he was feeling guilty. "Lincoln?" He looked at her again, and she took her towel to wrap it around them both, making both kids blush. "Y-you looked like you could use it too."

"T-thanks…"

She shook her head. "No, Lincoln. Thank you." She wrapped her arms around his chest and rested her head under his chin while he held her close. "You saved me."

He was initially going to argue, say that it was his fault for suggesting they go surfing, and that she wouldn't have almost drowned… but he couldn't bring himself to say that. While he hadn't believed that he was a hero before, and he didn't still think he was a hero, but having Jordan there as he held her in his arms, knowing she was safe… It just made that guilt melt away, because he knew that everything was okay.

"Lincoln?" He heard Jordan ask. "You okay?"

"Me?" He asked out of surprise. "Yeah, why?"

"Because you're hugging me a bit too tightly."

He instantly let go, looking away in shame. "Sorry…"

She immediately regretted what she said upon seeing his downcast expression. "Linc… I didn't mean to upset you."

He shook his head away, sniffling to hold back the tears. "Don't be… it's not your fault."

She frowned even deeper. "Lincoln… you know it's not your fault, right?" This got him to look at her, allowing her to see the tears beginning to brim in his eyes. "What happened out there… it was just an accident, neither of us could have known that was going to happen."

"I know that… but it was my idea to go surfing. Had I not suggested it-"

"Then I probably would have," she interrupted, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Lincoln, we could talk endlessly about how, if I didn't say this, or if I didn't do this, then things would be different, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that it happened, and if it weren't for you, then…" She couldn't even bring herself to finish that thought, so she shook her head to clear her head of it. "So, please, Lincoln. Don't blame yourself for this."

He was going to argue it, but the look in her eyes told him that she wouldn't let him, so he gave a small smile. "Okay."

Feeling thankful for this, she hugged him once again, a happy smile on her face. The two held it for a few seconds, before they heard someone approaching, and when they turned their heads, they saw Lori had entered the outpost. "Hey, everything okay here?" She asked, to which they both nodded. "Well, if you're feeling up for it, we're gonna head over and grab some ice cream."

"That sounds great! We'll be right there," Jordan told her, waiting for Lori to leave before she stood up. "You okay?"

"As long as you are, I am," he told her, making her giggle. So, after he gave the towel back to Jordan, the two of them left to find the others, with Lincoln not realising that Jordan hand taken hold of his hand.


	4. Day 4- Karaoke Night

It was a 'quiet' day in the Loud House, and Lincoln was taking advantage of the relative peace by laying on his bed, ignoring whatever homework he had due for Monday, and reading the latest issue of Ace Savvy in his undies. He was immersed, as always, in the crime fighting adventures of the card themed vigilante, kicking butt left right and centre to clean up the streets of Full House City.

However, as with most things in the Loud House, the peace couldn't be enjoyed for long. He was startled by the fact his door burst open, with none other than Luna being the culprit. "Seriously?!" He sighed. "Can't you girls ever knock?"

"Sorry, bro," she said, though he didn't know if she meant it, "but it's not like we haven't seen you in your duds before."

"That's not…" With another sigh, he put his comic down and sat up, swinging his legs down from the bed. "What do you want, Luna?"

She took the opportunity to sit down next to her brother. "How would you like to hang out with your big sis later?"

"Depends. What would we be doing?"

"Well, Bangers and Mosh is holding a karaoke night tonight, and-"

"Pass."

He prepared to stand up, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him back down to a seated position. "Wait, wait, wait, wait!" She took a quick breath, before speaking again. "Alright, Bro, just hear me out a second!" With a roll of his eyes, he gave a nod. "You know Sam?"

"She's the girl you like, right?" She nodded. "What about her?"

"Well, she's been telling me about how she wants to get to know my family, and I've been putting it off, because… well, you know what our sisters are like." He opened his mouth to make a point, but she knew what he was going to say, so she cut him off. "I know what it sounds like, and no, I'm not ashamed of the fam."

"So, what is it then?"

"Well… how do I put this… I know! Remember the time you invited Clyde for a sleepover, and when he wanted to hang out with the rest of us, you tried inviting your other friends?"

"Yeah," he acknowledged with a frown. "And they all got scared off."

"Right! Well, I'm worried if I bring Sam over, she's gonna get overwhelmed, so we decided to test the waters and just try one sibling at a time. She already knows Luan, Leni and Lori from school, but the rest of our sibs- not counting Lily, of course- they're a bit… well, they're wild cards. You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em."

"So… you're asking me to meet her first?"

"Exactly! I figured you'd be able to help settle her in, since you're the nicest of the bunch, and she's been dying to meet you."

His eyes widened in surprise. "She has?"

"Totally, bro! I remember when I showed her a pic of you and the others, she said you looked like the cutest little guy around!" He could only blush timidly at this, looking away. "So, what do you say, Linky? Think you can do this for me?"

"Well…"

"Pleeeeease?"

He turned and saw her staring at him, with her hands cupped together, and the ultimate sisterly weapon of persuasion: the sad puppy eyes. "Luna, that's not fair! You're older than me, you don't get to use the sad-" She simply blinked for added effect, causing him to groan and pinch his eyes shut. "… urgh, okay, fine! I'll go! Just stop with the eyes, already!"

She chuckled. "Thanks, bro."

"Yeah, yeah. So, when is it?"

"In a few hours. Lori will drop us off, and we'll get dinner there, my treat." She then gave a small sniff, and teasingly stuck her nose up. "You might wanna grab a shower before we go."

"Har, har." She laughed as she got up and waved to her brother upon walking out of his room. Once she was a fair distance from his door, he lifted an arm up and smelled his armpit. "… actually, a shower might not be so bad."

* * *

So, a few hours later, after having showered and gotten changed again, Lincoln found himself sat next to his rocker sister in Vanzilla, with Lori at the steering wheel. As the old, surprisingly still mobile vehicle continued its journey along the roads, Lincoln turned to Luna and noticed that she seemed slightly on edge. "You okay?" He asked.

She turned to her concerned brother and smiled. "Don't worry about it, bro," she assured him. "It's just a bit of the jitters."

"But, haven't you and Sam been going out for a while now?"

"Yeah, we have, but I still get nervous."

"That's natural," Lori called, catching their attention as she turned a corner. "In the early days of a relationship, you're still getting to know each other, and you don't want to ruin what you're building between each other. I was like that with Bobby."

"Yeah… that about sums it up." Luna blushed timidly. "Sam's more than just a girl to me… she's been my best friend for so long, I don't wanna lose that."

"And you won't," Lincoln told her, patting her on the knee. "I might not know Sam as well as you… but I know you better, and she'd be crazy to not see how great you are."

Luna's heart swelled at her brother's words. "Aww, Linky… come here." She pulled him into a side on hug, planting a kiss on his head. "You're the best dang bro anyone could have."

"Maybe one day, we can all triple date!" Lori suggested, her eyes lighting up while Luna and Lincoln just looked confused. "Me and Bobby, Luna and Sam, and Lincoln and Jordan!"

Lincoln blushed, staring, "Jordan is not my girlfriend!"

"I dunno, bro," Luna teased, "give it a bit of time, and you might just end up giving a little love to her."

"You do remember I came because you asked me to, right?"

She gave a small laugh before saying, "aww, don't be like that, bro. Come on, we're gonna have a good time, eat some great food, and Sam's gonna see just how amazing my little bro is." Looking forward, she could see that they were arriving at their destination. "Ooh, we're here!"

Lori pulled the van up in front of a British looking building, with a Union Jack hanging above the door, a red postbox out front and a blue and red sign that read _Bangers & Mosh_, with the and sign made to look like a guitar. "Okay, you two," Lori told her younger siblings. "I'll come get you in about an hour or so. In the mean time, have fun."

"Thanks, Lori," they both said as they got out, with Luna grabbing her bag before shutting the door. They waved Lori off as she drove away, before Luna put her arm around her brother's shoulder. "Come on, bro."

She led him into the building, which had the appearance of a music themed British restaurant, with a stage towards the back with a variety of instruments, as well as an assortment of music and British memorabilia and paraphernalia set up on the walls. There was a fireplace near one wall with two guitars hung above it. The tables were covered with peach coloured cloths, with four chairs to a table. Walking across the wooden floors, they approached the front desk which was manned by a slender man with long brown hair and a beard, wearing a Union Jack tank top under a black jacket, black ripped jeans with a white belt, and blue skater shoes. He saw the brunette and gave a smile.

"Hey, Luna!" He greeted, his accent clearly showing that he's not British. "I was wondering when you were gonna get here." His eyes drifted over to the white haired boy. "Who's the kid?"

"This is my lil bro," she explained, then turned to Lincoln. "Linc, this guy right here is Jonah. He's the event manager here, though from what I've heard from Chunk, he's a bit of a slacker."

"All lies! I'm telling you, that's just slander!" Luna rolled her eyes. "Anyway, nice to meet you, little dude."

"You too, Jonah," Lincoln told him.

"So," Luna spoke up, "is Sam here already?"

"Not yet, though your table is ready if you want it."

"Sure thing, dude." Jonah then beckoned for them to follow, leading the two Loud siblings to a table with the number 13 engraved in the centre. Luna and Lincoln sat down at the two chairs, while Jonah placed down three menus- two in front of the two already sat down, and one in front of the available chair next to Luna. "Thanks."

"No problem. I'll send someone to get your order once your date's arrived."

As Jonah walked away, Lincoln saw a small blush appear on Luna's face. "Still nervous?" He asked, to which she meekly nodded. "Relax. It seems like you really care about her, and I'm sure she feels the same way about you."

When she looked at her brother, she saw the same kind smile on his face he always had, and it made her give a small laugh. "I gotta say, bro… it's kind of weird that, despite all the times you've told us you don't have a girlfriend, you give a lot of good advice when it comes to love."

He smiled sheepishly and scratched behind his head. "I don't think it's that good advice."

She put on a smug smile. "I dunno, little dude… you sure you aren't hiding something from me and the sibs?"

His cheeks instantly flared up. "I'm not! Seriously, why do you girls always jump to that conclusion?"

Her younger brother's embarrassment made Luna let out a hearty laugh. "Chill, bro, it's just a bit of teasing." She was going to tease him some more, but she saw someone else first. Looking towards the entrance of the restaurant, she saw a blonde girl with a blue streak in her hair and piercings in her ear, wearing a white shirt with a band logo underneath a light blue jacket, reddish purple ripped jeans with a black studded belt and purple boots. "That's her." Lincoln looked in the direction his sister was looking, and saw the girl she was talking about, who looked her way and gave a huge smile. As the girl made her way over, Luna got up from her chair and held her arms out. "You made it!"

"Of course I did, Luna!" She greeted, rushing forward to be enveloped in the brunette's embrace as she hugged her back. "Like I was gonna miss karaoke night with my favourite girl." She could imagine Luna's cheeks growing redder, hearing a small yet goofy laugh in her ear, and as she pulled back from the hug, she realised that she was right. "So, you gonna introduce me to the most rockin' bro born in the USA?"

"Huh? Oh, right!" Lincoln rolled his eyes at his sister's slip up, standing from his chair. "Sam, this is my little bro, Lincoln."

"Hey there," Sam greeted, walking up to the younger boy. "Nice to finally meet you."

Now that they were face to face, Lincoln found himself blushing almost as much as his sister, noticing that Sam was actually really pretty. "N-Nice to meet you," he greeted with a shy smile, holding out a hand which she shook in kind.

"Well, aren't you a gentleman," she teased, kneeling down so they were at the same height. "Luna's told me a lot about you, even showed me a picture, but you're even cuter in person." His blush grew, and it grew even more when she pinched his cheek. "Especially with chubby cheeks like these."

"Please stop."

She gave a playful pout, but did let go. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna spend the whole night teasing. Luna always seems so proud when she talks about you, I wanted to meet you myself."

Lincoln turned to his sister. "She does?"

"Don't act so surprised, Link," Luna replied. "You're my little bro, and I love you." His lips curled upwards as his heart grew warm, but just as he was about to thank her, a low rumbling sound caused Luna to blush and laugh nervously. "Guess we should order some food."

"I'll second that!" Sam said, before the three of them sat down and began looking at the menus. "Think I'm gonna try something different this time."

"Nah, I'm gonna stick with the steak again. I can already feel like I'm gonna drool." She looked over at her brother, who was studying he options carefully. "What about you, little bro?"

"I'm not sure," he told her.

"Well, if I were you, I'd get the beef patty with onions and cheese," Sam recommended. "It's good if you're a first timer here, and we can get a basket of chips to share."

This only confused the boy more. "But, won't chips ruin our appetite?"

Luna chuckled, taking the menu away from the boy. "You've got a couple of things to learn about British cuisine."

After letting his sister order on his behalf, Lincoln began chatting with Sam to get to know her. The two of them quickly bonded over their shared love of Smooch, which led to Sam introducing Lincoln to a couple of other bands she thought he would like. He was also surprised to find that she was also a fan of video games, and though their tastes in games varied a little, they found themselves getting along with ease. Once the food arrived, it only became easier as the three of them began sharing stories, like how Sam had first found herself falling for Luna, and how Luna was like a third parent for Lincoln growing up. At the same time, though, Lincoln kept finding himself drawn to his burger.

"Honestly, this food is great!" He remarked as he took another bite into the succulent burger, a little bit of ketchup smearing his cheek. "This is, like, ten times better than Burpin' Burger!"

"I told you you'd like it," Sam told him. "Though, uh… you've got a little something on your cheek." Curious, he moved his finger to where the ketchup was, blushing out of embarrassment as he tried to clean it away. "Don't worry, dude, it happens. First time I came here with Luna, she ended up getting more sauce on her face than in her gut."

Luna simply raised an eyebrow. "You weren't exactly clean faced after your own meal," she threw back, to which Sam stuck out her tongue. "Still, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, bro."

"Yeah, I am. I'm glad you asked me to do this, Luna."

"Well, it's only gonna get better, bro. Still got the karaoke to come, and me and Sam are gonna rock this place like a hurricane."

"You know it, girl!" Sam then looked at the white haired boy. "What about you, Lincoln? You gonna rock the mic?" He shook his head. "Aww, come on, it's fun! Plus, I bet you have a great voice."

"I couldn't. I mean, I'm not as confident as Luna is. Whenever she's on stage, it's like there's nothing holding her back."

"Yeah, now, but not when I started, bro," Luna pointed out. "First performances always gave me the jitters. Heck, even now, I'll feel them a little, but once the music is coursing through my veins, everything around me just seems to melt away."

"Well, you have so much talent, and I don't."

"Linc, it's a karaoke night. No one's expecting to be the next Mick Swagger, they're just here for a bit of fun."

He pinched his eyes shut, letting out a tired sigh. "That's not… look, no promises, okay?" When he looked again, he saw that Sam was using the same trick Luna had used. "Oh, come on, not the sad puppy eyes! I really don't want to do this!" She simply dialled it up, tilting her head and using her hands like paws. "Seriously?! Please, don't make me do this! Luna, help me out he-" When he looked at his sister, she had joined Sam in applying the 'deadly' weapon of cuteness. "Oh, come on! I… urgh, fine, I'll do some stupid karaoke!" Victorious, the girls high fived and giggled. "So, what do I need to do?"

"Go see Jonah, and he'll sign you up," Luna told him.

"Fine." He stood up from his chair, taking the last few chips from the basket and eating them before wiping his fingers clean. "But you can't use that trick for a month," he then turned to Sam, "and you're lucky that my sister is absolutely crazy for you." As he walked away from the table, he felt a little bit smug upon knowing that he had undoubtedly made both of the high school girls flustered by his comments. Walking back to the reception, he saw Jonah, who gave a smile as he approached.

"What's up, little man?" He asked. "Everything good with your meal?"

"Yeah, the food's great," Lincoln replied. "My sister said I should come speak to you about… th-the karaoke night?"

"Let me guess, she talked you into it." Lincoln nodded. "Don't worry about it, dude, you'll be fine." He bent down and reappeared a moment later with a book, which he opened on the desk. "Any ideas what song you wanna do?"

"Um…"

"Lincoln?" He turned around and saw none other than Girl Jordan stood behind him, surprised at his presence. "Hey! What are you doing here?"

"Oh! Hey, Jordan!" He greeted. "I'm here with my sister and her girlfriend, she wanted me to get to know her."

"Oh, that's cool! I'm here with my sister, Jen. She likes karaoke, and she wanted me to have a go." She then began rubbing the back of her arm. "Honestly, I don't think I'm that good, but she kind of…"

"Let me guess, the sad puppy eyes?" She blinked, astonished that he had got it spot on. "Yeah, Luna did the same with me. Didn't help that her girlfriend did the same."

As the two kids laughed, Jonah looked between them and couldn't help but smirk. "Listen, kids," he told them, "I've gotta go take care of something real quick. There's a couple of forms here next to the song book, so once you've had a look through, just fill it out."

"Thank you," they both said, before he walked away.

* * *

After they both filled out their forms and talked for a little bit, they returned to their respective tables, where Lincoln found that Luna had ordered him a root beer float as a way of making up for 'manipulating' him into signing up for karaoke. While he was a bit upset that they had ganged up on them, he was willing to forgive them, especially once the taste of that delectable frozen treat hit his taste buds. They chatted for a bit longer until Jonah announced the first act for karaoke night, which happened to be Sam and Luna. The two of them belted out an old school rock hit which was received with an ovation from the regular patrons of Bangers and Mosh, as it was an establishment favourite. After that, they sat back down with Lincoln as Jonah brought on the next singer.

"That was awesome, you two!" Lincoln commended, giving them the goats.

"Aww, thanks, Link!" Sam replied.

"Yeah, my bro's probably my number one fan," Luna added, making him smile a bit meekly while Sam giggled.

"I can tell." She took a sip from her drink, then put the glass back down. "So, Lincoln. There's something I've been meaning to ask you."

Curious, he tilted his head. "What is it?"

"Well, you seem like a really great guy, and not just from what Luna's told me, but from what I've figured tonight." He smiled at her compliment. "So, with a guy as great as you, I've got to imagine that the girls at your school see it too. Is there someone special in your life?"

His cheeks heated up a little. "Well, I wouldn't say that. I'm not really that popular, but I don't mind."

She smirked. "So you're saying that there aren't any girls that you've had your eye on, who've taken a fancy to you?"

"I… I can't really think of any."

Luna scoffed. "Not even _Jordan_?"

Seeing the boy blush even more, Sam became interested. "Ooh, now we're getting somewhere! Come on, Link, you can share."

"Well… I wouldn't really say she's taken my fancy, as such. Don't get me wrong, she's a very nice girl, but she's just a friend."

Sam leaned forward, pressing her palms onto the table. "But do you think she's pretty?"

"W-W-Well… I-I wouldn't say she's NOT pretty, y'know? She…"

The two girls waited with expectant grins. "Yes, Lincoln?"

"W-well, she… I mean… I try not to think about her like that, you know? I mean, like I say, she's my friend. I don't want to think of her as just… a pretty face, you know?"

Sam and Luna looked at each other, neither expecting quite that response, before giving approving smiles to the boy. "That's real mature of you, Link," Luna told her brother. "Though, you know that totally means you find her pretty, right?"

"Sounds like this Jordan girl would be lucky to have you." She could see Lincoln blush more at saying this, making her smile even more. "You really are the sweetest little guy."

"Hey, Linc?" Luna asked. "Isn't that Jordan over there?"

Looking where Luna was looking, he saw his friend stood near the stage, seeming quite nervous. "Yeah, that's her," he replied, getting up from his chair. "Could you excuse me?" Without waiting for a response, he left the vicinity of their table and went over to the girl with the braided ponytail. "Hey."

She saw the boy and smiled. "Hey, Linc."

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Just… nervous."

He gave a comforting and smile who said, "don't be. You can do this."

Seeing him assure her like this made her nerves simmer down enough for her to feel ready. "Thanks, Lincoln."

Just then, they heard applause, followed by Jonah grabbing his mic and saying, "thank you to Rosa and Reggie there! Up next, giving us her rendition of "_Love The Way You Lie"_, give it up for Jordan!"

He left the stage as the audience applauded, watching the girl take the stage and grab the mic nervously. After seeing Lincoln give her a thumbs up to reassure her, she nodded to Jonah, who started the song. She took a deep breath as the prompter counted her in, before she started to sing.

"_On the first page of our story_

_The future seemed so bright_

_Then this thing turned out so evil_

_I don't know why I'm still surprised_

_Even angels have their wicked schemes_

_And you take that to new extremes_

_But you'll always be my hero_

_Even though you've lost your mind"_

Lincoln smiled more and more as she sang, finding that in spite of her nervous stance, her voice sounded clear and beautiful. However, it was the chorus that kicked things up for him.

"_Just gonna stand there and watch me burn!_

_But that's all right because I like the way it hurts_

_Just gonna stand there and hear me cry!_

_But that's all right because I love the way you lie_

_I love the way you lie_

_Oh, I love the way you lie_

_Now there's gravel in our voices_

_Glass is shattered from the fight_

_In this tug of war, you'll always win_

_Even when I'm right_

_'Cause you feed me fables from your head_

_With violent words and empty threats_

_And it's sick that all these battles_

_Are what keeps me satisfied_

_Just gonna stand there and watch me burn!_

_But that's all right because I like the way it hurts_

_Just gonna stand there and hear me cry!_

_But that's all right because I love the way you lie_

_I love the way you lie_

_Oh, I love the way you lie_

_So maybe I'm a masochist_

_I try to run but I don't want to ever leave_

_'Til the walls are goin' up_

_In smoke with all our memories"_

This was where Jordan ended her performance, stepping aside from behind the mic stand and bowing as the audience showed their appreciation, a number of the patrons standing up to applaud her. As Jonah got up to congratulate her and introduce the next act, she stepped off and approached her friend. "Was that okay? Honestly, my heart was racing too fast to tell," she told him.

"Jordan, that was incredible!" He commended, his eyes practically glistening after her song. "You were amazing up there!"

"Really?" He nodded vigorously, making her blush furiously. "Thank you."

"Alright, people, time for our next singer!" Jonah announced, getting their attention. "We've already heard his sister perform, so let's see if music runs in the family- singing _High Hopes_, we have Lincoln Loud!"

"No pressure," Lincoln said sarcastically, making Jordan giggle. "Still, don't know how I'm supposed to follow your performance."

"You're gonna be great, Lincoln," she assured her friend, making him smile.

"Thanks." He made his way up onto the stage and gave a nod to Jonah, who started the song. Just like Jordan had, he faced the prompter, took a deep breath and waited for it to count him in before starting to sing.

"_Had to have high, high hopes for a living_

_Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing_

_Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision_

_Always had high, high hopes_

_Had to have high, high hopes for a living_

_Didn't know how but I always had a feeling_

_I was gonna be that one in a million_

_Always had high, high hopes_

_Mama said_

_Fulfill the prophecy_

_Be something greater_

_Go make a legacy_

_Manifest destiny_

_Back in the days_

_We wanted everything, wanted everything_

_Mama said_

_Burn your biographies_

_Rewrite your history_

_Light up your wildest dreams_

_Museum victories, everyday_

_We wanted everything, wanted everything"_

As the boy performed, Jordan couldn't help but admire how the boy seemed to be at ease on stage as he sang, thinking, 'he's so talented! How has he kept this hidden?!'

"_Mama said don't give up, it's a little complicated_

_All tied up, no more love and I'd hate to see you waiting_

_Had to have high, high hopes for a living_

_Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing_

_Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision_

_Always had high, high hopes_

_Had to have high, high hopes for a living_

_Didn't know how but I always had a feeling_

_I was gonna be that one in a million_

_Always had high, high hopes_

_Mama said_

_It's uphill for oddities_

_The stranger crusaders_

_Ain't ever wannabes_

_The weird and the novelties_

_Don't ever change_

_We wanted everything, wanted everything_

_Stay up on that rise_

_Stay up on that rise and never come down_

_Stay up on that rise_

_Stay up on that rise and never come down_

_Mama said don't give up, it's a little complicated_

_All tied up, no more love and I'd hate to see you waiting_

_They say it's all been done but they haven't seen the best of me_

_So I got one more run and it's gonna be a sight to see"_

As he got into the chorus again, Jordan began to clap along, which got more and more people to join her with every line he sand, until everyone was clapping along.

"_Had to have high, high hopes for a living_

_Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing_

_Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision_

_Always had high, high hopes_

_Had to have high, high hopes for a living_

_Didn't know how but I always had a feeling_

_I was gonna be that one in a million_

_Always had high, high hopes_

_Had to have high, high hopes for a living_

_Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing_

_Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision_

_Always had high, high hopes_

_Had to have high, high hopes for a living_

_Didn't know how but I always had a feeling_

_I was gonna be that one in a million_

_Always had high, high hopes"_

"Go, Lincoln!" Jordan cheered the second the music stopped, which led to everyone giving a standing ovation to the white haired boy, who blushed as he gave a bow. He didn't want to be on the stage too much longer, so he quickly stepped off it and approached his friend, who quickly caught him off guard by giving him a big hug. "That was amazing!"

He gave a small smile as he hugged her back. "I wasn't that good," he responded.

"Are you kidding?! Lincoln, you've got such a great voice!"

"She's right, Lil Bro," they heard Luna say, releasing the hug to turn and see Luna and Sam stood just next to them. "You've been holding out on me."

"Linc, that was rockin'!" Sam told the boy, throwing up the goats. "You should totally jam with us sometime!" She then smirked as she added, "same goes for your lucky lady here."

Lincoln looked at Jordan, both their faces blushing madly, before they both turned to her and said, "we're not together."

Sam and Luna both laughed at the synchronicity of their response, while both Jordan and Lincoln merely blushed more, but before any of them could say anything else, Luna heard her phone go off. Pulling it out, she frowned as she read the text she had received. "Hate to cut the celebrations short, but that was Lori. She says she's out front, so we better not keep her waiting."

"Already?" Sam complained. "I was hoping we could hang some more."

"Sorry, Sam."

She sighed, but gave a small smile. "I understand." She and Luna then turned to the boy. "We'll wait out front while you say goodbye." She then turned to Jordan and said, "it was nice meeting you, Jordan."

"You too, Sam," she replied.

After Luna and Sam had left, Lincoln turned to his friend. "Guess I have to go, then."

"Guess so," she replied. "Hey, Lincoln?"

"Yeah?"

"… thank you."

His brow furrowed slightly. "For what?"

She gave a little giggle. "Do you really not know? Lincoln… if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have had the courage to do that, to get on stage and sing like that. I don't think I could have gone through with it otherwise."

Lincoln stood there for a few seconds, taking in what she told him, before giving a small chuckle. "I was gonna tell you that." As he started laughing some more, she found it infectious and joined in with the laughter, neither caring about any of the patrons staring at them. After a good ten seconds of laughing, they stopped and looked at each other with smiles, before sharing another brief hug. "Guess I'll see you later."

"I'll see you later, Lincoln."

He released the hug and began to walk away, waving goodbye as he reached the entrance. Since Jonah wasn't at the reception, he walked out of the building, where he saw Luna and Sam giving each other a hug near Vanzilla, so he walked towards them. "All set," he said, getting their attention as they broke the hug. "It was nice meeting you, Sam."

The blond girl smiled, kneeling down to the boy's height. "Nice meeting you too, Linky," she replied as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're a cool little dude." His smile matched hers, and she pulled him towards her so she could whisper in his ear, "let me give you some advice. That friend of yours? Don't let her go- she's a keeper."

Lincoln's mouth opened, his brain unable to come up with a response to that as she let go and stood back up, waving to Luna as she walked away. Lincoln stood there for a few seconds, trying to process her advice, before he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning his head, he saw that it was Luna. "Let's get in Vanzilla before Lori starts busting our butts," she jokingly suggested, to which he nodded. The two got into the van and buckled up as Lori turned on the engine.

"What took you so long, twerp?" He heard Lori ask, though he was still partly focused on what Sam had told him.

"Just… saying goodbye to someone," was all he said, before the three of them went on their way home.


	5. Day 5- As Five Year Old Kids

It was well into the evening in Royal Woods, and in one house, Jordan and her friends Mollie, Kat, Sadie and Joy were in the middle of a pillow fight in her house- one of the festivities as part of the sleepover she had invited them to. The girls were laughing as the fun continued, having already played some truth or dare which saw some pretty revealing secrets be revealed. As one of the pillows started to spew feathers, however, Jordan knew that it was time things calmed down.

"Alright, girls," she spoke up, getting them to stop swinging pillows, "let's call that it for this before things get too messy."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be you if it did," Sadie remarked. "Remember how mad Kat's mom got when we went too far at her sleepover?"

"That was a tough week," the raven haired girl shuddered. "I haven't seen that many weeds since, thank goodness."

"So, what are we going to do next?" Joy asked the hostess, setting her pillow down on her air mattress.

"Well, we've still got some time before the movie comes on TV," she explained. "Is there anything you guys want to do before then?"

The girls sans Mollie were quick to look at each other and yell in response, "MAKEOVERS!"

The brunette merely rolled her eyes. "Don't we do that every time?" She joked.

"Yeah, but we only hold these things twice a month," Joy argued, "and I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't tend to get one any other time."

"Nope," Kat agreed, while Sadie said, "me neither."

"Come on, Mollie, it'll be fun!" Jordan insisted, a smirk coming to her lips. "Besides, I have your favourite shade of boysenberry nail polish. The glittery kind, too."

A small blush came to Mollie's lips. "Well… I might as well if you girls are."

They all giggled at her stubbornness. "Alright, give me a second while I grab my kit," Jordan told her friends, before walking over to her closet. Opening the door, she saw a blue makeup kit on the upper shelf, but as she reached up and pulled it down, something else fell from on top of it. "Huh?" Putting the makeup on her bed, she reached down and saw a small tin box. "What's this?"

"Looks like an old drawing kit," Joy suggested, seeing how the box had a picture of multiple coloured pencils on it.

Giving it a little rattle, Jordan shook her head. "I don't think that's what's in there, though."

"Well, open it and see!" Kat suggested, curious to see for herself. The others joined in with urging the girl to open it.

"Alright, alright! Heel, you animals!" she joked, sitting down on her bed. "Give me a second. Now, let's see." Grabbing at the lid, she struggled for a second to remove the lid from the case, which was stiff after not being opened for some time. It didn't take long, though, to get it off, and when she saw what it was, her eyes widened. "Oh, my!"

Putting the lid down on her lap, she pulled out a small, makeshift necklace, with glittered and glued macaroni decorating a piece of string that held the necklace together, and a small paper cutout flower at the bottom. It was clear from the size of it that it was for someone a few years younger than her.

"How cute!" Sadie gushed. "A macaroni necklace!"

"You kept that in a little tin case?" Joy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Honestly, I forgot I had this," Jordan responded. "I haven't seen this in years, I thought I threw it out."

"It must have been pretty special if you kept it in a case, though," Kat pointed out. "Who made it for you?"

She didn't answer after a few seconds, so when Mollie saw the blush growing on her cheeks, she quickly put it together. "It wouldn't happen to have been from a boy, would it? Say… a boy with white hair?"

The other three girls gasped at the suggestion, while Jordan simply blushed even more. "… maybe…"

"AWWWWW!" She heard the girls coo, making her cheeks heat up even more.

"That's so adorable!" Sadie sighed.

"I didn't even know you and Lincoln ever hung out that much," Joy added.

"Well, we didn't for long," she replied. "It was only for the first few weeks at kindergarten, before I got swapped into your class. I can't even remember why that happened, to be honest."

"Well, how did it happen?" Kat asked.

"It's a bit of a long story."

Mollie simply scoffed and said, "Jordan, we're gonna be painting nails. I think we can afford a story while we do."

Jordan smirked and put a hand on her hip. "Do you want the glittery boysenberry?"

"… yes, please."

Jordan rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine, I guess I can tell you. Well, as you know, before the second year of kindergarten, I'd just moved to Royal Woods after dad got his current job."

* * *

"_Jordan! It's time to get up! You don't want to be late for your first day!" An eleven year old girl with brown hair braided into a ponytail, wearing a light blue T-shirt, faded pink shorts and pink sneakers, called as she knocked on a door. When there was no response, she pushed her way in and saw that the bed in the room was empty. The girl knew, however, that the room was not empty, so she smirked. "I guess she already went to school!" She spoke in a dramatic voice. "I better go so I'm not late!"_

_She made some fake stomping sounds before hiding behind the bed. A few seconds later, she heard a closet door open and saw a young, five year old girl, still in her pink pyjamas, walk up to the still open door and poke her head out. Seeing her opportunity, the older girl slowly got up from behind the bed, snuck up on the smaller girl, and planted her hands on her shoulders. "Gotcha!"_

_The younger girl screamed, turned around and started to struggle. "Let me go! I don't wanna go!"_

_The older girl allowed her to struggle for a few seconds, before kneeling down. "Jordan, stop struggling and look at me." Though she didn't want to, Jordan did stop struggling and looked up, letting the older girl see the sadness in her eyes. "Why don't you want to go to school? Don't you want to make loads of new friends?"_

_She shook her head vigorously. "No one's gonna want to be my friend, Jen!"_

"_Now, why would you say that?"_

_The little girl sniffled back the tears. "Because they'll all have their own friends. Why would they want to hang out with me?"_

_Giving a sympathetic smile, Jen said, "come here," then lifted Jordan up and sat down on the bed with the younger girl on her lap. "Just because you're new, doesn't mean you're worth any less than them. You're a really cool girl, and they're gonna see that and be eager to be friends with you."_

"_You don't know that." Feeling slightly sorry for her younger sister, Jen began to stroke her hair. "Don't you worry you're not gonna be popular?"_

"_Sure, a little, but I don't care if I'm popular or not. I don't need to be the centre of attention or anything. If I can just find one or two other kids who want to be my friend, then that's all I need, just like that's all you need."_

"_I don't know…"_

_She could see the little girl pouting, which she knew how to stop. "Tell you what- if you go brush your teeth now, and get changed, I'll braid your hair like mine."_

_This made little Jordan's eyes light up. "Really?!"_

"_Uh Huh! But, I'm gonna be timing you! If you want me to braid your hair for you, then you have about ten minutes, starting… now!" Jordan leapt off of Jen's lap and rushed off in the direction of the bathroom, making Jen smile victoriously. "Works every time." Jen got up from the bed and headed downstairs, where she saw her mom and dad sat in the kitchen, her father a black haired man with glasses wearing a purple button up shirt, brown trousers and black shoes, and her mother a brown haired woman in a yellow blouse with khaki trousers and grey sandals. While her father was reading the newspaper, her mother was making packed lunches for both Jen and Jordan. As she finished packing one lunch box, she looked over her shoulder, saw her elder daughter and smiled. "Morning, mom and dad."_

"_Morning, Jen!" Her mother replied. "You ready for your first day at a new school?"_

"_Yeah, I guess so. More so than Jordan, at least."_

"_Yeah, I could hear," her father joked with a chuckle, making his wife roll her eyes._

"_She's worried she's not gonna make any friends."_

_Her mother put down the lunch box in her hands, and turned to her daughter. "She'll be fine, Jen. I think it's sweet you're looking out for your sister again, but once she gets there and the day goes on, she'll forget all about it." She then tapped at her chin. "If I remember correctly, you were the same as your sister."_

"_Well, I didn't exactly have many friends before then," Jen pointed out. _

"_Yeah, but when you're just starting at primary school, that tends to be the case," her father argued. "It might take her a little while, but she'll make some friends."_

"_I know, dad."_

"_JEN! WHERE ARE YOU?"_

_With a chuckle, Jen told her parents, "that's my cue," before making her way back upstairs._

* * *

_After making sure that Jordan had cleaned her teeth properly, she braided her little sister's hair before leaving her to get changed in a white unicorn t-shirt, pink shorts and black shoes with white socks, even allowing her to wear her pink bow. After the two of them joined their parents for breakfast and grabbed their book bags, they decided to walk to the school, enjoying the sunny day as they walked hand in hand. When they arrived, Jordan stopped walking first as she saw just how many students were there. Jen was quick to notice, so she stopped walking and kneeled down in front of her sister._

"_Don't be scared," she told her. "Once you're in there and talking with people, it won't seem so bad." The little girl's lip quivering made it clear that she didn't appreciate this. "Come on, now, don't cry. Tell you what. I'll walk with you to your first class, but you're on your own from there, okay?"_

"…"

"_Okay?"_

"… _okay."_

_With a small chuckle, Jen got to her feet again. "Come on." She took her hand again and led her into the school building, and although it was quite crowded, Jen was able to spot an old man with a grey moustache, wearing a navy blue suit jacket with a white shirt and a grey tie, plus khaki pants with a black belt, black dress shoes and socks, and a clipboard in his hand. "Excuse me, sir?"_

"_Yes?" He asked. "Can I help you?"_

"_We're new here, and we were wondering where our homerooms are."_

"_Ah, of course! One second." He looked through the papers on his clipboard. "You're… Jeniffer, correct?"_

"_Yeah, though I prefer Jen." She then gestured to the smaller girl hiding behind her leg. "And this is my sister, Jordan."_

"_Hi," she shyly whispered. _

"_Well, it's lovely to meet you, girls! I'm Principal Huggins. Now, Jen, you have Mr Thompson, and Jordan is with Ms Shrinivas. Her classroom is closer, so we'll head there first." The two girls nodded, before following the man through the school. Reaching their first destination, he knocked on a door then opened it, leading the girls into a cream walled classroom, which had numerous posters and toys that made it clear that it was a kindergarten classroom. Sat at the desk was a woman with medium length black hair and dark tan skin, wearing a green jacket over a light cream shirt, a red skirt and black shoes. "Ms Shrinivas, do you have a moment?"_

"_Of course, Principal Huggins," she responded, standing from her chair. Seeing the two girls stood behind him- particularly, the one hiding behind her big sister- she adopted a warm, caring smile. "And who might you be?"_

"_I'm Jen, and this is my sister Jordan," the older sister introduced. "We recently moved to this town, so it's our first day here."_

"_I see!" She crouched down so that she was at eye level with the little girl. "You don't have to be scared of me. I won't bite." Cautiously, Jordan stepped out from behind her big sister. "I see you have a unicorn on your shirt. Do you like unicorns?"_

"… _uh huh…"_

_The teacher gave a light giggle before adding, "I love unicorns. They're so magical." This got Jordan to smile a little. "Now, don't worry. I know school can be boring, but we're going to have fun today too. Okay?"_

"_Okay."_

"_You going to be okay now, Jordan?" Jen asked, to which the little girl nodded. Smiling, she kneeled down and gave her a hug. "Alright, I'm gonna go then. I'll come collect you after school so we can walk home, okay?"_

"_Okay, Jen."_

* * *

"_Good morning, class!" Ms Shrinivas announced, now stood in front of her full classroom._

"_Good morning, Ms Shrinivas!" They responded._

"_I hope you all had a wonderful summer break and are ready to learn some more! Time for the morning roll call." She grabbed a sheet of paper and called out the names written on it, ticking them off when one of the kids called "present" or "here" in response, until every name was ticked. "Okay. Before we get started, we have a new student with us today." She looked over at Jordan, who was sat at a table by herself and already looking nervous. "Jordan, would you like to introduce yourself?" The girl shrank in her seat as she felt the stares of the other kids directed at her. "It's okay. We're all friends here."_

_Though not certain if that was true, Jordan stood up from her seat and gave a small smile. "Uh… h-hi," she was able to squeak out. "I'm Jordan. I recently moved to Royal Woods with my mom, my dad, and my older sister." She opened her mouth to say more, but the staring had eventually worn down her reserve, so she simply said "… hi", before sitting down, shrinking a little bit when she heard giggles and titters from some of her 'classmates'._

"_Well, I'm sure everyone will make you feel welcome, Jordan," Ms Shrinivas assured the girl, before facing the whole class. "We'll be starting the semester with some reading. There was a slight mix up that meant we don't have quite enough books, so for today only, I would like you to pair up."_

_The class began to get up and move around, pairing up. Deciding to be brave, Jordan walked up to the first girl she saw. "Hi, would you like to-" Unfortunately, she was ignored, so she tried again with another girl. "Hi, would you-" Again, she was ignored, so she tried once more. "Would you like to-"_

_Sadly, she was met with the same result a third time, so she frowned and sat back down. Ms Shrinivas saw this and frowned as well. Looking around the class, however, she saw that everyone else had paired up, and knew that there would be tears if she tried to split any of them. She counted the books that were piled on her desk, then took the top one and walked over to Jordan. "If you would like, I can sit and read with you," she offered._

_Jordan appreciated the effort, so she gave a small smile and said, "thank you, but that's okay."_

"_Are you sure?"_

_The little girl nodded. "My sister Jen has taught me to read a bit. I'm not great, but I can handle some big words."_

"_I'm sure you can." She handed the book to the girl. "If you need any help, raise your hand and I will try to help you." Jordan nodded, then opened the front cover. Starting to walk away, the kindergarten teacher sighed. 'Hopefully, she will settle in with time.'_

* * *

_Those hopes, however, did not come true immediately. While Jordan seemed like a model student, participating when she could and getting on with her work, she had struggled with finding any friends. Whenever there was a pair or group activity, she found herself drawing the short stick of the odd number in the class each time, meaning she had to do them alone in spite of the teacher's attempts to help her. When recess came around, she merely followed the others as they ran out to the playground, each of them meeting up with their friends to play with the jump ropes, the tetherball, the hopscotch, or whatever they could get to first. _

_When she eventually got there, Jordan went straight for a bench and sat down on it, her back against the school wall. As she sat there, she tried to distract herself, looking at the flower bed next to her bench and trying to see if the clouds in the sky made any particular shapes. However, the sounds of the other kids chatting, laughing and just generally enjoying themselves made her sigh sadly, knowing that she couldn't be part of it._

'_I knew it would be like this,' she thought sadly, her face drooping. 'Why couldn't I just stay at home and have mom teach me this stuff? Or-or just join Jen's class? I know she's a lot smarter than me, but she wouldn't leave me alone like this.' She felt a tear starting to brim in her eye. 'I… I want to go home…' _

_Wiping away the tear, she shook away this thought and looked around again. As she did, her eyes landed on a boy wearing an orange t-shirt, blue denim dungarees and white sneakers. What stuck out, however, were two things- firstly, he was the only person her age she had ever seen with hair that was pure white. The other thing she noticed was that he was sat by himself on the swing. Curious, she stood up and was about to walk over, when another boy- this one with black hair, wearing a red t-shirt, black shorts and black sneakers- walked over and pushed him off the swing, making him land on his knees._

"_Hey! What was that for?" The white haired boy shouted, turning around to glare at the sneering bully._

"_Haven't you heard?" He cockily replied. "The swing's aren't safe for the elderly!"_

_Jordan could hear the bully laughing, and though she couldn't quite tell, it looked like the white haired boy was shaking, which made her assume he was sobbing. She grew angry at this- it was bad enough having to be by yourself, but being picked on was worse. As she thought about what to do, she heard a bouncing sound, and saw a dodgeball gently bounce to her feet. Picking it up, she looked around and saw some kids beckoning for her to throw it back, but when she saw the bully again, she narrowed her eyes and began to march towards him. "HEY!" she yelled, and when the boy looked at her, she threw the ball, hitting him in the chest enough to startle him and make him fall onto his butt. "Leave him alone, you meanie!"_

_Things were silent for a moment, before the other kids began to point and laugh at the bully, making him tear and shout, "shut up!" When they didn't, he started crying and ran off, leaving Jordan to turn back to Lincoln. _

"_Are you okay?" She asked, the boy just stuck where he was as he looked up at her, his jaw lowered out of a lack of something to say. "Did he hurt you?"_

_His mind seemingly just waking up, he shook his head and got to his feet. "I'm okay," he replied. "Thank you for helping me."_

_She smiled and said, "no problem! That guy was a meanie!"_

_Lincoln, though appreciative of her efforts, frowned more and looked away. "He's not the only one."_

_Curious, she tilted her head. "Are there other kids who bully you?"_

"_Most of them do. They think I look weird because of my hair, and they like to make jokes about it."_

"_I don't think it looks weird."_

_He looked at her, and he saw her happy smile. "You… you don't?"_

"_Nope! I think it looks cool!"_

_While he had been lied to before about that, he could tell from her voice that she was telling the truth, so he matched her smile. "Thanks! I like your hair too. It looks really pretty."_

"_Aww, thank you!"_

"_Plus, your bow matches your pants!" She gave a happy giggle at his compliment, which made him laugh too. "Hey. You're the new girl, right?"_

"_Uh Huh! My name's Jordan."_

"_My name's Lincoln. Would you like to be my friend?"_

_Her eyes lit up. "I'd love to be your friend!" She held out her hand with her pinkie extended, convincing Lincoln to link his with hers for a pinkie promise. "So, what do you want to do?"_

"_Um… I'm not sure. Honestly, you're my first friend other than my sisters."_

"_How many sisters do you have?"_

"_Eight."_

"_WOAH! That's a lot of sisters!" He nodded, unfazed by her shocked expression. "So, what do you do when you play with your sisters?"_

"_Hmm…" After a moment of thinking, he exclaimed, "I know," then patted her on the shoulder. "Tag! You're it!"_

_She giggled as he ran off before giving chase after the boy, not knowing that not only was Ms Shrinivas watching with a happy smile, but from one of the classroom windows, so was her older sister._

* * *

"We started to sit together at lunch and in class, and a few days later, we made each other the macaroni necklaces," Jordan finished, having told the story while the girls all painted each other's nails. "I don't know if he kept his, but… he looked happy when he gave me this."

"That sounds so cute!" Kat gushed. "You sound like you really had fun together!"

"But, when you joined our class a few weeks later, you never told us about that," Mollie pointed out. "What happened?"

Jordan's reminiscent smile faded away at this, a frown taking its place. "I don't know. I don't even remember why I got moved into your class. I know he met Clyde not long after that, but I don't know how long after. All I remember was that you girls were so nice to me, and that me and Lincoln never had any classes that overlapped…" She felt her eyes growing misty as she dwelled on this. "Yet he was the first kid at school… who was actually nice to me."

Giving a small sniffle, she wiped away her tear. Joy was quick to pick up on this, so she stood up and sat next to her, with Mollie taking the other side. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"… I haven't been a very good friend to him… have I?" The girls were astonished by this, but she continued. "He was my first friend here, and he was so kind to me… but I haven't paid him back for that."

"Don't be silly," Mollie told her, rubbing her back.

"Yeah, I'm sure Lincoln never thought that," Sadie added. "He was probably just happy to know you."

"And it's not like you aren't friends now, is it?" Kat pointed out. "You always invite him to your parties, you always say hi to him at school- that's more than for most of the boys at our school."

Jordan couldn't help but give a small chuckle at this. "I guess you're right. Still… I kinda want to make it up to him. Make up for… lost time, I guess."

The girls continued to talk for a bit, not knowing that an older girl in a set of light blue pyjamas and purple slippers, with a brown braided ponytail, had been listening in for the last couple of minutes from behind the closed door. 'I always wondered why she didn't talk more about him,' she thought to herself. 'They looked so happy when I saw them playing together… guess things just changed for them.' Shaking these thoughts away, she knocked on the door. "Hey, girls! Movie starts in five!"

"Thanks, Jen!" She heard her sister call, before she headed downstairs.

* * *

At that same moment, in a house in Franklin Avenue, a certain white haired boy in orange pyjamas was searching his shelves. "HURRY UP, LINCOLN!" He heard his younger sister scream. "THE MOVIE'S GONNA START SOON!"

"ONE SECOND!" He yelled back, resuming his searching. "C'mon, where are you…" Opening one of his desk drawers, he found a small plush bunny with a purple polo shirt on. "There you are, Bun Bun! How did you get in there?" Picking it up, he prepared to close the drawer, he saw something that peaked his curiosity- a small, tin pencil case. Curious, he pulled it out and opened it, revealing a macaroni necklace which made him give a small smile. 'Feels like forever since I got this…' Thinking about how he received the item, his smile became a frown. 'I never did try hard enough to stay friends with Jordan after she switched classes. Wish I could make it up to her…' He placed the necklace in the case and put it back in the drawer, closing it before making his way out of the room, Bun Bun in hand. 'After all… she was my first friend.'


	6. Day 6- Prom Night

**(A/N: Hey, guys, quick update. Some of you might have noticed, but this story now has a new cover image. Well, I asked JaviSuzumiya if I could have permission to use their artwork for this story, and he said I could! I'm so happy that he said yes, so please, if you get the chance, check out his work on DeviantArt.**

**Thanks for reading, and enjoy!)**

It was late in the afternoon in Royal Woods, the sun not quite setting but no longer at its peak. In one particular house, known as the Loud house because of its inhabitants, things were anything but Loud. In one room at the far right end of the first floor landing, Lincoln Loud stood looking at himself in the mirror, making sure his attire was correctly put together. Greatly different to his usual attire, he was instead adorned in an orange button up dress shirt with a black dress tie, black dress trousers and freshly polished black Oxford shoes. His hair was slicked back with gel, his usual turkey tail kept held down with the rest of his snowy white locks, and if anyone were to notice, they would catch the slight smell of aftershave on his person. He grabbed a black suit jacket with an orange pocket square attached, and he put it on top of his outfit, before he turned and saw the viewer, giving them a smile.

"Well, it's a pretty big night for me," he explained. "Elementary school is pretty much finished, and with the final tests complete, the school is having a prom as a sort of send off for everyone. I know that pretty much everyone I know in my grade is gonna be heading to Royal Woods Middle School, but I guess it'll be nice to say goodbye to some of the teachers." He walked out of the room and was surprised to see that the landing was empty. "Guess all of my sisters are waiting downstairs. I won't lie, I could have done without them all trying to set me up with who knows how many girls, but I'm fine going by myself, since I'll pretty much just hang out with the guys most of the night." His smile faltered a little as he added, "I was hoping to ask someone to the prom, but… well, someone else beat me to it." Shaking his head, his smile returned. "Still, tonight's gonna be fun."

"LINCOLN! ARE YOU READY YET?!" He heard Lori yell, making him chuckle.

"Yeah, I'm heading down now," he responded, knowing not to keep his 'chauffeur' waiting. He walked towards the staircase, and after going down the first few steps, he stopped and smirked. "Seriously?"

He could see his parents and all of his sisters waiting for him, grins on their faces and phones/cameras in hand (even Lily, though hers was just a toy phone). He knew they were all just waiting for him so they could get a picture before he left, but he did appreciate their support.

"Come on, let's get a picture already!" Lynn Sr said, urging for Lincoln to come down the stairs.

"Okay, okay, hang on," he replied, getting to the bottom of the stairs. "How do you want me to stand?"

"Just keep still, Linky!" Leni insisted, holding her phone up while her family did the same, making Lincoln chuckle. "Okay, smile!"

He gave a smile, and stood still as his family took their pictures for about ten seconds. "Are we done?"

"Hang on, my thumb got in the way," Lana told her brother, making him roll his eyes but he still obliged, letting her take another photo. "Got it!"

"Now, I want you to have fun tonight," Rita told him, "and make sure you tell your teachers goodbye when you get the chance, okay?"

"Alright, mom."

"That's my boy." She leaned forward and pressed a kiss on his forehead, then turned to Lori and handed her the keys to Vanzilla. "You sure you don't want me to take Lincoln?"

"I'm sure, mom," she replied. "Besides, since I'll be going to college, this might be my last chance to take Lincoln to a big dance." Rita nodded, then stepped aside. "Ready to go, twerp?"

He rolled his eyes at the nickname as he nodded. "Sure thing, Lori." He turned to his other sisters and said, "I'll see you later." He couldn't even turn around before he felt a massive group hug envelope him, making him laugh happily. "I love you too, girls."

So, after they finally let him go, he followed Lori out of the house, waving goodbye to the rest of his family as they wished him a good time. He got in the seat next to Lori as she turned on the engine to Vanzilla, then began to drive him to his destination. "So, Lincoln, you looking forward to tonight?" She asked.

"I guess so, yeah," he replied. "It'll be cool hanging with the guys and Stella, even if we do that most of the time anyway."

She gave a small chuckle. "Still, this is probably the biggest dance you'll have gone to so far. This is just a taste of what things will be like when you're older."

"Please, stop, you're sounding like mom."

She gave a fake annoyed gasp and gently slapped him on the shoulder, quickly returning her hand to the wheel in case any police officers saw. "Don't be rude, I'm driving you for free tonight."

He chuckled and said, "yeah, I know, and I appreciate it. I know I probably haven't said it much, but I'm really gonna miss you when you take off for college."

She smirked at her brother before asking, "me or the driving?" They both laughed that joke. "Only kidding. Thanks, Link." As she thought of what to say next, her smirk went away, knowing that she was about to talk about a potentially sensitive topic. "Are you… still upset about… her?" His own smile faded after she asked that, making her regret asking. "Sorry, I… I shouldn't have-"

"It's okay," he interrupted, his voice a little bit quieter than before. "Honestly… I wish I could have asked her, but… guess I just missed my chance."

"I just don't get it. You two seemed so… you know?"

"I know, but I guess not. Can't say I'm surprised, though. A girl like her, I'm surprised all the boys in our grade weren't asking to go with her."

"You know, if you want, I can ring my friend and see if her sister is still-"

He held a hand up and shook his head. "I'm good. I appreciate the offer, but it wouldn't be right. I'd be going with them for the wrong reasons."

This made a small smile appear on Lori's face. "That's very mature of you, little brother." They talked for the next five to ten minutes, until eventually, Vanzilla pulled in front of Royal Woods Elementary School, where a banner reading _Fifth Grade Prom_ hung above the entrance. "Alright, Lincoln. Have a good time, and I'll text you when I get here." She leaned over and pressed a kiss on his head. "I love you, Lincoln."

"I love you too, Lori," he replied, giving her a hug before undoing his seatbelt and getting out. After shutting the door, he waved as Lori drove away, before seeing his best friend approaching, Clyde dressed in a blue suit with a white shirt and black dress shoes. "Hey, Clyde."

"Hey, Lincoln," he replied. "Can you believe this is one of the last times we'll go into this school?"

"Might be for you. I'll probably have to come here to pick up my younger sisters when the others aren't able to." The two of them laughed, before turning to the entrance. "So, buddy, shall we enter?"

"We shall indeed, for we are-"

"CLINCOLN MCLOUD!"

The two entered through the double doors and made their way through the familiar corridors in the direction of the echoing music, until they eventually reached the gymnasium. The regular lights were lowered, with coloured spotlights lighting up the room. Tables were set up around the gym hall, with balloon decorations on top of the white table cloths that covered them, a DJ in the far corner next to a stage with a microphone and a banner above it that read _CONGRATS FIFTH GRADE GRADUATES_. Stood just in front of the entrance was Lincoln's fifth grade teacher, Agnes Johnson.

"Hello, boys!" She greeted.

"Hello, Mrs Johnson!" They replied, making her laugh.

"You can call me Agnes now if you like, boys. You don't need to be so formal tonight. So, are you boys looking forward to going to middle school in September?"

"Actually, it's still quite daunting," Clyde admitted.

"Yes, I know it will be a big change, but in all honesty, the two of you are probably the two most capable students I know for making that change."

"You probably say that to all of us," Lincoln joked, making his teacher laugh again. "Still, thank you for teaching us this year."

"It was my pleasure, boys." She stepped out of the way and said, "I believe you boys are at table seven. I think some of your friends are already there, so head on in and have fun."

"Thank you!" So, they entered the gym, the sound of the EDM track becoming clearer with each step. Looking around, the two of them saw a good few of their classmates scattered around the hall, talking to each other or indulging in the available snacks.

"So, should we go to our table first or go talk to some of our other friends?" Clyde asked.

"I think we should-" Before Lincoln could finish that, he felt someone bump into him. "Sorry about that, I didn't-" He was silenced again when he was met with a sight he could only describe as angelic. Stood before him was one Girl Jordan, and she was dressed in the most beautiful, shimmering sapphire satin party dress with a bow detail on the back, which reached down to just above her ankles at the back and a little bit higher up at the front, as well, as stunning sapphire pumps. His eyes, however, were more drawn to the fact that her hair was hanging down to her shoulders rather than held in a braided ponytail, with no sign of her familiar bow, and her face had a light amount of eyeliner, blush and lipstick. "Jordan… I, I mean, Jordan! Hey!"

She giggled at his nervous reaction, then replied, "hey, Lincoln." As she took notice of his attire, she blushed. "You… you look very handsome."

He blushed, though more than twice as intensely as she was. "Th-thanks. You, uh… y-you look really pretty as well." She had to hold her hand up against her cheek to try and hide how much her blush grew. "So, uh… you have any plans for the summer?" 'Really, Lincoln?' He mentally berated to himself as soon as the words escaped his mouth. 'That's what you came up with?'

"Nothing immediately, but I'll probably go somewhere with my family. You?"

"Probably just trying to keep up with my crazy family." She giggled, knowing fairly well just what he meant. "Still, it should be fun. I mean-"

"Girl Jordan!" They heard a voice call, and turned to see a blonde boy with the side of his hair shaved, dressed in a white dress shirt with brown dress pants, and black shoes and socks. "Your friends just got here."

"Oh, thanks!" She turned back to Lincoln and Clyde, and said, "well, I'll try and talk to you later. If not, maybe I'll see you over summer."

"Sure thing, Jordan," Lincoln replied, before waiting for her to walk away so he could frown. 'So that's who asked her out.'

"Huh. I never even knew Boy Jordan liked her," Clyde remarked, though he regretted it when he saw his friend's crestfallen expression. "I'm sorry, man. I know you wanted to ask Girl Jordan."

Lincoln shook his head, putting on a smile for his friend. "It's fine, just something that happens. Come on, let's go find our friends."

Clyde nodded, and the two made their way around the gym hall, until they saw their friends stood next to a table and made their way over. Rusty and Zach were both dressed in white suits from the former's dad's shop, with Rusty wearing a black dress shirt and black dress shoes, while Zach was wearing a red dress shirt and black dress shoes. Liam was wearing a light brown western shirt with navy trouser jeans and black boots, as well as a black cowboy hat. Stella, who was wearing a white blouse and a red skirt with red flats, was the one who saw Lincoln and Clyde approaching.

"Hey, you made it!" She greeted, getting the other's attention as she approached to hug them.

"Howdy, fellas!" Liam greeted next, with Rusty offering an "about time", and Zach simply giving a "Hey".

"We were starting to wonder where you were," Stella told them.

"My dads had to stop crying so they could drop me off near school," Clyde explained.

"My sisters all insisted on getting a picture of me dressed up," Lincoln added, to which the boys all nodded in understanding. "So, I'm guessing it's just us six at this table?"

"Yeah, Romeo over here kept striking out," Zach was quick to point out, whilst literally pointing a grumpy looking Rusty out.

"Their loss," he grumbled, to which Liam chuckled.

"Hey, it doesn't matter!" Stella assured them. "Tonight's gonna be fun, and then we've got summer break! In fact," she then grabbed a cup of punch and held it up, "here's to the end of our time at Royal Woods Elementary!"

Liam, Zach and Rusty all held up their cups, while Clyde and Lincoln pretended to hold up cups since they hadn't hit the beverage table yet. "To us!"

As they 'clinked their cups together', they heard someone tapping on a microphone, and turned to see that Principal Huggins was stood on stage, so they sat down and prepared to hear what he had to say.

"Good evening, students!" He spoke as the music was turned off for the moment. "Tonight, we are here to celebrate that you, this year's fifth grade students of Royal Woods Elementary School, are going to graduate, and advance to the next stage of your education!" A few kids gave small claps at the statement, before the principal continued his speech. "While I'm sure a few of you are more than sick of this place," this actually got a few titters from the crowd of students, "we hope that you will take away some fond memories of your times here as you move on to the next stage of your lives, and we have full faith that you will all achieve great success as long as you prove that you deserve it. Now, I know you don't want to hear an old man whitter on at you all night, you've had years of that already, so I'm going to stop talking, and hand over to our master of music."

He stepped off the stage, and allowed the DJ- a twenty something man with blond hair and tinted shades, wearing a white beanie, blue button up shirt with a square scarf, white jeans and sneakers- to take the mic. "Alright, kids, who's ready to party?!"

* * *

So, for the next couple of hours, the fifth graders made the most of the night- enjoying the beverages, chatting with friends about summer plans, and dancing along with the live music. At one point, Clyde and Lincoln became the surprise centre of attention when they showcased their Dance Battle moves to a song they knew from the game, and unwittingly caused a crowd to gather around them and give them an ovation when the dance stopped. After a while, though, Lincoln seemingly retired to his table for the rest of the night, where he either watched the others having fun, or glanced over at one table in particular.

This was eventually seen by Stella, who knew just where his gaze was directed. "Why don't you go over and talk to her?" She asked. "I doubt she'd mind."

"I don't know," he sighed in response. "I mean, I'd like to, but… I don't know if it would be right. She chose to go with him, so I don't want to tread on any toes, if that makes sense."

"I guess… still, I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you talked with her, and if he does, then that's his problem."

"You think?" She nodded. "Well… I might go talk to her in a moment. I think she's busy with her friends at the moment."

At that time, Girl Jordan was actually just sat talking with Mollie, who was dressed in a purple party dress with a black jacket on top. While Mollie was talking with her, Jordan actually seemed kind of bored, which her bestie eventually picked up on. "You okay?" She asked, seemingly waking her up.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I was… I was somewhere else," she tiredly replied.

Mollie frowned, realising why she was acting this way. "He still hasn't asked you for a dance, has he?" Jordan shook her head to answer. "Honestly, why did you agree to go with the guy? You never said you liked him."

"Honestly, I don't like him, but… I guess it was just nice to be asked, you know? It was the least I could do to accept."

"Yeah, but not if you don't really want to! Besides, I'm pretty sure nearly every other guy in our class would have asked you, including the one guy you wanted to ask you." Jordan's eyes widened as she said this, a blush appearing on her cheeks. "Yeah, we kind of figured you would have gone with Lincoln. It's no secret you like him."

She knew there was no lying to her friend, so she looked down at her hands resting on the table instead. "I didn't think he was going to ask me… I thought he was going to ask Stella instead. Don't you remember how they acted around her when she first came here?"

"Yeah, and I also remember they got over that pretty quickly. She just wanted to be friends with them, so they agreed to just be friends." Jordan was going to ask how she knew that, but Mollie answered her before she could by saying, "word spreads quick here. Point is, he doesn't see her like that." A smile came to her face as she added, "not like he sees you."

Jordan scoffed before refuting that point. "No, he doesn't."

Mollie placed a hand on her hip and scoffed back. "Jordan. He's been looking over at you all night." Her friends cheeks flushed even more, making Mollie smirk. "Why don't you go ask him if he wants to dance? I'm sure he'd love to, and surprisingly, he's got some pretty slick moves."

This elicited a giggle from Jordan. "He does, doesn't he?" Mollie smiled more, seeing her friend actually look happy again. "I dunno… won't Boy Jordan get mad?"

"Girl, forget him! If he doesn't want to dance with you, then that's his loss. You should be having fun, not sitting here looking like you're gonna fall asleep!"

Jordan smiled and gave her friend a hug. "Thanks, Mollie." When she let go of the hug, she got up from her seat, only to see that Boy Jordan had returned. "Oh, you're back."

"Yeah, the buffet table was crowded, but I managed to get some more punch," he explained, holding out a cup to his 'date'.

"Thanks," she replied with a forced smile, taking the cup and putting it down on the table. "Hey, can we maybe have a dance?"

He groaned and rolled his eyes back. "I told you, I don't want to dance!"

"Well, I do! Honestly, why can't we just have one dance?"

"Because, I'd look lame in front of the guys!"

"And that's more important than me? God, I'm wishing you didn't ask me to come with you!"

"Hey, it's not like I like you!"

Jordan felt her heart drop, her ears just barely recognising the appalled gasp from Mollie. "… what did you say?"

"Honestly, I just asked you out because you're the coolest girl here!"

She could feel the hot tears pouring down her face, her anger rising in her mind. "So… you just wanted to be seen with me because I'm cool?! I can't believe you! You're… you're…"

As her breathing began to get too rapid for her to control, she took flight, dashing straight towards the entrance to the gymnasium and into the corridors. "Jordan!" Mollie called, to no avail.

"Ah, forget her," Boy Jordan dismisses, not caring that his 'date' was in distress. "She'll cool down. Hey, I wonder if there's any pizza left."

He didn't get the chance to see, as he felt two hands turn him round and grab him by his collar, and he saw that they belonged to a furious looking Lincoln Loud. "WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HER?" he roared, even getting the DJ to turn off the music. "TELL ME!"

"Get off me, you freak!" Boy Jordan yelled, but Lincoln wouldn't let go just because he asked him to- he was too incensed.

"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU-"

"Lincoln!" He was just able to hear Mollie tell him, in spite of his rage. When she placed a hand on his shoulder, he turned his head, allowing her to see that he was tearing up as well. "Leave him. Go see if Jordan's okay, I'll handle this jerk."

Though he wanted to absolutely destroy Boy Jordan for making the girl he liked cry, he realised that she was more important in that moment, so he reluctantly let go of the blonde boy, and sighed angrily. "Okay, Mollie," he told her. "I'll be back soon."

While she nodded to him as he took off, Boy Jordan decided to be cocky and yell, "Yeah, you better run! Jeez, what was his probl-EEEK!"

Mollie didn't let him finish, instead kneeing him in the groin, effectively bringing him down to his knees. "You're about to have a bigger problem, you freak."

* * *

Reaching the school's front entrance, Lincoln stepped outside, the skies now an ever darkening shade of orange, and the air cool. What mattered to him, however, was the gentle crying he heard to his right. Turning in that direction, he saw the girl he had been searching for, sat on the grass with her hands trying in a futile effort to withhold the torrent of tears streaming from her eyes, her body shaking as she sobbed. Although Lincoln was still fuming about the boy that had made her this way, his primary concern was making sure she was okay, his heart sinking at seeing her in this state, so he walked over to her, kneeling down to face her. "Jordan," he said, getting her sobbing to stop.

"L-L-Lincoln…" she whispered, her voice a little croaky. "Wh-What… what are you d-doing here?"

"What do you mean? After what just happened, of course I'm going to come see if you're okay."

"But… y-you should be enjoying yourself, n-not dealing with me."

He gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "And you should be having a great time, not crying because of a jerk like him." Placing his other hand on her other shoulder, he saw her slightly lower her hands, allowing him to look her in her still teary eyes. "You don't deserve to be treated like that, and you did absolutely nothing wrong. You are an amazing girl, and for him to not see that is his problem, not yours. Don't let him ruin this night for you."

As she listened to him say such kind words and stared back into his eyes, she felt something that… in all honesty, she hadn't felt all night. She could see a clear confidence in his gaze, mixed with… admiration? Hearing him talk about her like no one else mattered made her heart flutter, and in that moment, after what had happened… it was all that she wanted to hear, and more. Gently lowering her hands, he could see that her makeup was ruined, but seeing her smile made her look even more beautiful.

"Lincoln… thank you so much," she told him, wiping away her tears with her finger. When Lincoln took his pocket square and handed it to her, she giggled as she accepted it. "Thanks." She used it to wipe away her ruined makeup, then looked at the mess it had caused. "Ugh, I must look hideous now. I feel like such an idiot."

Lincoln gave a small chuckle as he refused to take it back, before assuring her, "Jordan… you could never look hideous to me." Her cheeks turned red, and before she could say anything, he got to his feet and held out his hand to her. "Do you want to head back inside?"

She stared back at him for a few seconds, feeling endeared by his kind smile, before smiling back and nodding. He helped her to her feet, then linked his arm with hers and walked back inside with her. When they eventually reached the gymnasium again, Mollie was the first to approach them, so Lincoln let go of Jordan's arm so she and Mollie could hug.

"Thank God you're okay," Mollie told her friend. "Don't worry about that jerk- Huggins has locked him in Coach's office, though I was sure to knee him where it hurts first." Jordan gave a happy laugh at this, before Mollie let go of the hug so she could reach into her purse and pull out some makeup wipes. "Here."

"Thanks," Jordan replied. She took the wipes and used them to wipe off as much of the ruined mascara and blush as she could. When she was done, she looked at Mollie and asked, "did I get it all?"

"Yep. You're all good." She then turned to Lincoln, who was quietly just stood there. "Hey, Loud. I know we don't always see eye to eye, but thanks. I appreciate you looking out for my friend."

Lincoln simply smiled, raised his palm and told her, "any time."

As Mollie high fived the boy, they heard an announcement from the DJ. "Alright, everyone! Hope you've all had a good time, but the party has to end some time, so we're gonna end things with a slow song. If you've got someone you wanna hold close, then get to the dance floor and move to the rhythm."

As the slow song began to play and people either went onto or off of the dance floor, Jordan sighed. "I didn't even get to dance…"

Hearing this, Lincoln knew just what to say. "Maybe we can change that," he told her. When she turned to face him, her eyes lit up as he held his hand out to her. "Jordan… May I have this dance?"

A smile growing on her face, she nodded and took his hand, allowing him to lead her onto the dance floor. Amongst the sea of dancers, the two held each other close, with Jordan resting her head against his chest, and him resting his head atop of hers. Neither cared if their friends were watching, or if this was the last song, or if people were going to talk about what had happened earlier. All that mattered was that the two of them were there, together, dancing in that moment, and that everything felt right.

* * *

Back at the Loud House, the Loud sisters were waiting for Lori to return with Lincoln, All now dressed in their nightwear. It was later than some of them would typically stay up, signified by the yawn that escaped he self proclaimed princess' lips. "When are they gonna get here?" She tiredly whined.

"They should be back soon, dudette," Luna assured. She was going to say something else, but the sign of headlights lighting up the window made her smirk. "In fact, I think that's them now."

They all grew excited as they waited for the door to open, eager to ask Lincoln how the dance went. They heard keys in the door, and saw the handle begin to turn, so they prepared to welcome their siblings back. However, they decided against it when they saw Lori open the door with Lincoln in her arms, fast asleep with a smile on his face. She saw that her sisters were disappointed by this, but she was quick to tell them, "let's not wake him. He's had a big night."

As she made her way towards the stairs, however, Lucy audibly said, "gasp. Is that lipstick?"

The other sisters gasped as well upon noticing that there was indeed a lipstick kiss on his cheek. Lori, despite being just as eager to find out where it had come from, simply shook her head at her sisters. "We can ask him in the morning, but let him sleep. He looks so cute like this." Agreeing with that point, the other girls allowed Lori to take their brother upstairs. She carried him into his bedroom, laid him down on his bed, and closed the door, before smirking. "You really are the man with the plan, aren't you?" She said to her brother, who opened his eyes and smirked as well. "Let me guess- you're not going to tell me what happened, because it's not fair on the others, right?"

"You know me too well," he replied, getting Lori to chuckle.

"Alright, I won't push it until tomorrow, but you better not leave anything out, mister." He nodded in agreement, before letting it a tired yawn. She leaned forward and placed a kiss on his forehead, then said, "goodnight, Lincoln," before leaving his room. Once she was gone, he got changed out of his formalwear and into his pyjamas, then climbed into bed, knowing that after the perfect end to the night, perfect dreams were to come.


	7. Day 7- Kissing

It was a warm, sunny weekend in Royal Woods, with clear skies and warm temperatures having been predicted for the next week. Thankfully, with a sister as fashionably intelligent as Leni, Lincoln didn't have to worry about choosing clothes to combat the heat. Just the day before, she had returned from Reininger's with his current attire- a thin white t-shirt under an open orange short sleeve shirt, with his usual blue jeans and white sneakers. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he had to admit that Leni had made a good choice. 'This actually looks quite good on me,' he thought. 'Breathes well, too. I should thank her for picking it out for me.'

He stepped out of his room and onto the landing, where he was surprised that he couldn't hear his sisters getting up to their usual chaos, but he simply shrugged it off as being the heat. He walked across to the far end, reaching his eldest sisters' bedroom and looking in, only to see that it was empty.

"They're outside."

Lincoln leapt up and screamed, turning around to see that Lucy was stood behind him, her typically stoic grin on her face as usual. "Geez, Lucy! It's already hot enough outside to make someone faint, I don't need you doing it as well!" He complained.

"Sigh. My bad."

He shook his head to calm himself down after the initial shock. "It's… fine. What did you mean by 'they're outside'?"

"All our sisters are outside. There's nothing on TV, and they don't have any plans."

"I see. Guess I'll go join them. You coming?"

"Sure."

They began to walk towards the stairs, until Lincoln put a hand on her shoulder. "No offence, but isn't your usual dress gonna be too… warm for this weather?"

She shrugged. "I prefer sticking to the shadows anyway."

He couldn't help but chuckle at her response, before ruffling her hair and saying, "never change, spooky." The two siblings then made their way downstairs, saying hello to their father as they passed him in the kitchen before heading out the back door and into the back yard, where the rest of their sisters were already hanging out- Luna was strumming on her guitar, Lynn was playing badminton with Lori, Lana and Lola were chasing each other, Luan was entertaining Lily with her jokes, and Leni was chatting with Lisa (though, it was more like the former was talking, and the latter was doing her best not to discourage her 'inane chattering'). As the last two Louds approached, Leni looked over and smiled.

"Hey, Linky!" She greeted, bounding over. "You're wearing the outfit I got you! It looks, like, totes great on you."

"Yeah, I have to agree, I like how it looks on me," he replied. "Thanks for getting these for me."

"No problem!"

"SCORE!" Lynn yelled, sending the shuttlecock over the net and down to the ground. "AND THAT'S GAME! LYNNER, LYNNER, CHICKEN DINNER!"

Lori merely sighed and rolled her eyes as her younger sister did her victory dance. "Way to be subtle about it," she muttered, putting the racket against her shoulder, before adopting a smile and walking over to her brother. "So, Lincoln. You got any plans for today?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Clyde and his dad's went to visit his grandma, Liam's helping his parents on the farm, Zach and his parents went on holiday, Stella's looking after her grandma, and Rusty… actually, I'm not sure I want to know what he's doing. Still, I've got nothing planned."

"Well, maybe it might be a good idea to make a plan with… someone else."

As he heard her say this, he realised that the rest of his sisters had stopped what they were doing and were now looking at him, which made him suspicious. "… okay, what's going on?"

"Nothing's going on, big brother!" Lana replied, though her grin made him think otherwise.

"Look, Lincoln," Lori spoke up, "just sit down with us a sec." Though cautious, he obliged, sitting down on the grass as his sisters formed a sort of circle. "We haven't done anything, though I'm sure you probably think that we have."

"Yeah, well, you act like you're up to something," he pointed out. "What's really going on? Who did you mean by 'someone else'?"

"Lincoln, you are of slightly above average intelligence," Lisa stated, adjusting her glasses. "Given the right amount of thought, I'm sure you could ascertain whom we are referring to."

Lincoln, though usually confused by his second youngest sister's words, found himself understanding what she said this time, so he began to think about who they could be referring to. He'd already told them that his usual friends were otherwise occupied, and his sisters were all there, so there was no doubt that they weren't talking about them. Going through the potential candidates in his mind, one person kept coming up, and it made his cheeks heat up. "You don't mean… Jordan… do you?" When they simply smiled excitedly at him, he frowned. "Girls, I've told you that we aren't together, right?"

"But you want to be, don't you?" Luan argued, no jokes made.

"It's no secret that you like her, Linky," Lola pointed out.

"Well… I-I mean…" His sisters just stared at him expectantly, which caused him to sigh. "There's no point me saying otherwise. Even if it weren't true, you'd say it was anyway."

A few of the girls laughed at the joke, before Luna decided to speak up. "Bro, it's not exactly surprising. Any time I saw you hanging around her or talking about her, you seemed… well, happier."

"We've all seen it, Stinkoln," Lynn added. "You're not exactly great at hiding it."

"Nevertheless," Lori spoke up before Lynn could say anything else, "we know how you feel about her, and…"

"We think you should go for it!" Leni blurted out, her grin stretching across her whole face. After a couple of seconds of silence, she and all the others looked at their brother and saw that, while he was smiling… it was sort of a sad smile, his eyes looking down at the grass by his feet. "Linky?"

"… I appreciate the thought, girls, but… I don't think I can do that," he replied, causing them to give small gasps.

"Why not?" Lucy asked. "Don't you want to?"

"It's not that, Lucy. I just… I don't think she sees me like that. If I were to go for it, go up to her and say, 'hey, Jordan? I like you. I really like you, and I was wondering if you'd like to maybe… be my girlfriend', or something like that… I don't want to even think about what would happen if she says she doesn't feel the same way." His breathing was growing a little shaky. "I like having her as a friend, and I don't want to ruin that all because I got my hopes up for nothing, you know?"

His sisters could tell that this was coming from his heart, and they were upset to hear him speak like this. Not wanting to hear him talk like this, Leni was the first to go over and hug him, followed by Lori and Luna, and then the rest just seemed to pile on afterwards. "Linky…"

"Oh, hi there!" They heard their father speak, his voice seemingly coming from the front door. "Are you looking for Lincoln? He's round the back with his sisters."

"Thank you," a familiar voice responded, making the girls let go of their brother and usher him to his feet. As the figure that the voice belonged to appeared, Lincoln's jaw dropped- the figure, none other than Girl Jordan, was walking towards them, wearing a yellow sundress with a blue flower pattern that reached down to her knees. As she walked up to the group, Lincoln felt the blood rush to his cheeks at the sight of her. "Hey, Lincoln," she greeted, then stopped. "Are you okay? You're… you've got tears in your eyes."

Snapping out of his stupor, Lincoln brought a finger to her eye, and realised there was in fact a tear there, so he used his fist to rub the tears away. "Oh, uh… the wind was… in my face," he lied, putting on a smile. "What brings you here?"

"Well, I… what I mean is I…" She could see that the girls behind the boy were giving each other knowing glances, which made her blush. "I, uh… was wondering if you… wanted to hang out with me today? I was thinking it might be a nice day to go to the zoo."

Behind the boy, Lana gasped, but Lola covered her mouth before she could say anything. "Don't."

While Lana pouted a little, she stayed quiet as Jordan spoke again. "So, Yeah. I thought it might be nice if… we went together. Would you like to?"

Lincoln found himself unable to speak for a few seconds, just looking at the girl he liked without any clue of how to answer her. Fortunately, Lori was there to give him the push he needed.

"What a coincidence!" She spoke up, catching her brother by surprise. "We were thinking of heading there ourselves!"

"We were?" Lincoln asked, turning his head and keeping his voice down so Jordan wouldn't here.

"Tell you what!" The eldest Loud sister declared, ignoring her brother's confusion. "We can go together, then you two can go around by yourselves and we can meet up later for lunch!"

Her sisters quickly caught on, and began to agree with the idea. "Oh! Sure, that sounds great!"

"Okay! We'll be back in two minutes top, we just need to grab some of our stuff," Lori explained. "Come on, you can wait inside." As she wrapped her arm around Lincoln's shoulder and led him towards the kitchen door, she whispered to him, "you sure she doesn't feel the same?"

Blushing, he whispered back, "Lori…"

"Trust me, Lincoln. It's better if you give it a go now than wait too long and miss your chance." Knowing there was no arguing with his sister, he simply followed along.

* * *

After the Louds had grabbed their wallets and bags, they piled into Vanzilla, with Lincoln ensuring that their guest got the 'sweet spot', and they took off in the direction of the Royal Woods Zoo. The sign above the ticket booths was dark green, with red lettering, and had a picture of a smiling monkey waving on the top. Fortunately, the queues were short, so after parking Vanzilla and getting a parking pass, they got straight in line and didn't wait around long before they reached the booth, where Lori paid for all twelve of them despite Jordan's protests. Making their way inside, they saw that there were a good few people walking around, ranging from couples to families, but it wasn't packed.

"Alright, you know the rules!" Lori said to her sisters. "I want you to behave yourselves, and if I hear of any of you causing trouble, then I will not hesitate in calling mom and dad. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Lori," they pretty much droned in response.

"Good. Anyone younger than Lincoln, make sure you have one of the older sisters with you at all times, and meet at the food court at half twelve." They nodded, before beginning to disperse, with Lisa and Lily sticking with Luan, Lola and Lana going with Leni and Lynn, and Lucy walking with Luna. While they began to go their own way, Lori turned to the two eleven year old kids. "You two have fun, okay?"

"Thanks, Lori," they both replied, before Lincoln felt Lori wrap her arms around him, her head next to his ear on the opposite side of the other girl.

"Good luck."

His cheeks heated up a little, but he smiled and said "thanks" back, before she let go and went to catch up with Leni and Lola, leaving the two of them alone. "So, uh… where do you want to go first?"

"Well, I saw a sign saying there's a penguin show in about ten minutes, so we could head there first."

"Okay. Why don't we find a map and see how to get there, and we can decide after the penguin show where to go next?"

"You really are the man with the plan, aren't you?" She giggled when his cheeks heated up and he gave a little goofy smile. "Come on. I think I see someone handing out maps." She took a hold of his hand, then blushed when she realised what she was doing and let go. "S-Sorry."

Though he too was blushing, he took her hand again and said, "don't worry about it." They then walked over to a blonde man in a green zookeeper uniform with a green cap on his head, who smiled as they approached. "Excuse me, sir. Could we get a map of the zoo, please?"

"Sure thing, kids!" He then took two maps from his stand and handed them to the kids. "Here you go. There's a couple of coupons that will give you discounts for some of the shops, shows and restaurants, and a list of all the show times today."

"Thank you so much!" Jordan told the man.

"My pleasure, kids! Have a good time today!"

"We will!" They told him as they walked away, waving to him as he waved back. They made their way towards the Penguin centre, a large building which kind of looked like a giant iceberg on the outside, and when they stepped inside, they noticed how the corridor they walked down led to a glass-windowed viewing area, which encased the penguin habitat, and on the far side was an open air viewing area, which they presumed was where they would watch the show from. After walking further down the corridor, they saw a woman in a black polo and shorts, plus black slip on shoes and a black cap that kind of looked like a penguin head.

"Hey, kiddos!" She greeted. "You here for the penguin show?"

"Yes, please," Jordan replied. "Are these coupons okay?"

She and Lincoln held out their maps to the employee, who checked the coupons before taking a marker pen to cross them out. "Okay, with those coupons, two kids tickets will cost you ten bucks." Lincoln pulled out his wallet and took a ten dollar bill from it, then handed it to the woman, who exchanged it for two tickets. "You're in luck! Since it's the first showing today, you got the last front row seats! We hope you enjoy!"

"Thank you!" They replied, then walked off in the direction of the seats.

"Lincoln, you know you didn't have to pay for me, right?" Jordan asked, to which he nodded.

"I know, but I wanted to," he replied, making her blush and smile. After about twenty seconds of walking, they reached the viewing area for the show, where a few families were already sat waiting. "Do you want the aisle seat?"

"Yes please." He moved around her to take the other seat, with her sitting down after, their knees brushing together causing them both to blush. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Um, Jordan?" She tilted her head out of curiosity. "I wanted to say this earlier, but it wasn't a great time, but…"

"… yes?"

"W-well, what I want to say is… y-you look really pretty in that sundress."

Her cheeks turned crimson, her heart a flutter at the compliment. "You… y-you think so?" He shyly nodded, making her smile even more. "Thank you, Lincoln. I… I think you look handsome in that outfit."

His cheeks were practically burning up, in spite of the cool air emanating from the penguin habitat. "Th-thanks."

Fortunately for the poor boy, at that moment, the woman who gave them the tickets could be heard speaking over a sound system. "Attention, everyone! The penguin show will begin in one minute! If you haven't already, please take your seat! During the show, please do not attempt to feed the penguins or leave your seat to join them."

"Who would try and join them?" Lincoln whispered to his friend. "That water would be freezing!"

She stifled a giggle. "I know what you mean, but I can kind of understand someone trying to pet one- penguins are so cute!"

He gave a chuckle in return, saying, "I guess you're right there."

When they looked back to the enclosure, they saw a man in the same uniform as the woman who gave them the tickets appear through a door, microphone in hand. "Hey, everyone!" He announced, getting the audience's attention. "Are you excited to see the penguins?"

"YEAH!"

The zoo worker gave a small chuckle. "Alright! Well, let me quickly introduce myself. I'm Jake, and I've been working her for about seven years now. I've gotten to hang out and look after the little guys, and let me tell you, they can be a handful, but with how cute they are, you'd have to be heartless to get mad at the little guys. We actually have four types of penguin here at the zoo, and we're gonna introduce them to you one by one. First up, I'm gonna introduce you guys to Peppy!" He turned to a door to his left, where he could see his female coworker come out, gently encouraging a small penguin with yellow feathery eyebrows, the crowd cooing at the sight. "Peppy here is a Rockhopper penguin, which is why he has yellow eyebrows. Say hi to Peppy, everyone!"

While he didn't, Lincoln turned and saw that Jordan joined the crowd in saying "hi" to Peppy, which only made him smile more.

"Rockhoppers in the wild are known for diving off of cliffs when they go fishing, and can jump extremely high. Observe." He took a fish out of a nearby bucket and walked over to Peppy and the coworker. He then held it at arm's length over the penguin, who looked up then jumped nearly five feet to grab it in its beak, making the crowd gasp in amazement and applaud. "That's pretty cool, right, guys?"

After the others all replied, his coworker spoke into her own microphone. "Of course, Peppy here isn't the only Rockhopper we have here! You guys want to meet some more?"

After the crowd said yes once again, the show continued for about twenty minutes in total. The two zoo workers introduced the audience to the rest of the Rockhoppers, who showed their diving abilities, as well as the Macaroni penguins, the King penguins, and the Gentoo penguins, who Jake explained were a threatened species, and that it was important to keep the species conserved. Throughout the show, the audience watched on as the penguins swam, leapt, waddled and were fed by the two workers, laughing any time they got splashed by the feathery friends and cheering at the tricks they were able to perform. While Lincoln was among the audience when they did this, and couldn't help but find the creatures adorable, he was more enamoured by how much Jordan was enjoying the showing, her face positively glowing with excitement. There would be the occasional moment when she would catch him, so he would quickly avert his gaze to the penguins, but his reddish cheeks gave him away instantly, making her giggle each time.

Eventually, though, the show had to end, and after the workers said goodbye, and the audience said goodbye to them and the penguins, Jordan and Lincoln joined the other spectators in making their way toward the exit, when Lincoln spotted a small stall next to a gift shop, which appeared to have a carnival game of sorts. "Hey, Jordan?" He asked, getting her attention. "You want to check that out?" Looking where he was looking, she nodded to him, and the two kids made their way over to the stall, where they saw a man standing in front of a simple stacked can game. "How much for a go, sir?"

"It's a buck for a throw, or two bucks for three," he explained to the kid, then placed three balls down on the table after Lincoln put two dollars down for him. "Best of luck, kid."

"Thank you." Lincoln took the first ball, and aimed his sights on the first of the three stacks. Reaching his arm back, he threw the ball and hit the base of the stack, causing all six cans to fall, which made him pump his fist. "Yes! That's one!" He took the second ball and threw it in the same manner at the stack of cans, receiving the same result as before. "Get in! Okay, one stack left."

Picking up the ball, he felt a bit cocky, juggling the ball in one hand for a moment, then throwing it again. This time, however, he hit the bottom right can, which only caused three cans to fall. "Unlucky on that last one, kid," the vendor told him. "Still, two stacks means you can grab something from the middle shelf."

"I thought so." Jordan looked at the boy, confused about why he sounded disappointed. "Sorry, Jordan. I was gonna try and win you that penguin from the top shelf."

She gasped, her hands cupping over her heart at his sentiment. "Oh, Lincoln. You didn't have to do that."

"I know, but… I wanted to. Still, I hope you aren't upset that I couldn't quite manage that for you."

She gave a small laugh and said, "Lincoln, you tried to win me something. That means more to me than you think."

"Really?" She nodded, which made him smile again. "Okay. Well, what would you like?"

"Hey, hang on there, kid!" The vendor interrupted, picking up a ball from the counter. "You still have one throw left!"

"I do? But, I thought-" Lincoln stopped when the vendor put the ball back down and gave him a wink, which allowed Lincoln to get the message. "Oh. Thank you, sir."

"Best of luck, kid."

Lincoln took the ball and looked at the cans the vendor had stacked back up, his heart racing slightly. 'Okay, Lincoln,' he told himself. 'This is it- no more second chances.'

"Lincoln," he heard Jordan say to him, catching his attention. "You can do this."

The confidence in her eyes and her voice instilled itself in him, making him feel prepared. He gave a nod, then returned his gaze to the stack of cans. With a deep breath, he took aim, reached his arm back, threw the ball…

And rejoiced as he saw the six cans go any which way as they fell to the ground. "I did it!" He cheered, making Jordan applaud him while the vendor simply chuckled.

"Nice going, kid," the vendor commended, before reaching up to the top shelf and pulling down a plushie of a penguin with a bow tie and a top hat. "I take it this is for the lucky lady?" Both kids blushed as Lincoln nodded in response, making the vendor chuckle more. "Here you go."

"Thank you," Jordan told him as she accepted the plushie, holding it in her hands before hugging it close to her chest. "It's so cute! Thank you, Lincoln."

"You're welcome, Jordan," he replied, ecstatic to see her happy. "So, shall we go check out some of the other habitats?" She nodded, then began to walk away from the stall and towards the exit, waving good bye to the vendor as they left.

* * *

After that, the two spent the next hour and a half walking around the zoo, checking out some of the other animals that were there. They first walked through a small forest like area where they crossed over a bridge that allowed them to see some beavers and otters swimming happily and running around, as well as see some birds they had never seen before flying around the trees over their heads. They then checked out the Asian animal area, where they were amazed at the sheer size of some of the tigers that were there, and when one of them roared at Jordan and startled her, she clung onto Lincoln, who almost instinctively took hold of her, which made both kids blush after they separated. Once she had recovered, they went to check out the red pandas, and when one of them saw Jordan, it gave her a little smile that made her completely gush over how cute it was. After this, they headed into the monkey centre, which had orangutans, chimpanzees, capuchins, gorillas and lemurs, the latter of which Jordan couldn't help but think had "really funny faces", which made both her and Lincoln share a laugh.

Once they got out of there, Lincoln received a text from Lori to meet them for lunch, so they quickly made their way over to the central food court, where Lincoln and Jordan decided to sit at a table with Luna, Lucy, Lana and Lynn, while Lincoln's other sisters sat at a nearby table. Once everyone was settled, Lori ordered two pepperoni pizzas to split between them, and once they arrived, they all shared a laugh at how the pizzas were shaped like monkey heads. Each pizza was cut into twelve slices, so everyone got two pieces each for them to start to eat while they talked, as well as a bottle of water each.

"Those frogs were so cool!" Lana told the others. "I'm gonna have to ask if I can bring Hops to play with them one day."

"That's nothing compared to the bats," Lucy replied, her voice as typically neutral as always. "They were wicked."

"Yeah, you really dug them bats," Luna remarked, ruffling the younger girl's hair much to her displeasure before turning her attention to Jordan and Lincoln. "I'm guessing that you two hit the penguin habitat. You got your own personal penguin too."

Jordan giggled, hugging the plushie with her arm. "Yeah," she replied. "We went to see the show, and afterwards, Lincoln won this for me at a game."

The girls all cooed at this, even the ones at the other table who had been listening in, making Lincoln smile shyly and blush. The only one who didn't was Lynn, who merely smirked and said, "looks like training with me finally paid off, huh, Link?"

He rolled his eyes at this. "I guess so." While he was going to say something else, he was interrupted by the sound of crying, and they all looked to see that it was none other than Lily who was bawling her eyes out. "What happened?"

"Our infant sororal relative has accidentally released her helium filled, latex sphere," Lisa stated, causing her siblings and her brother's friend to just blink out of confusion. With a sigh, she pinched her eyes shut and stressed, "she let go of her balloon."

They all looked up straight away and saw that there was indeed a red helium balloon floating upwards, and because their table was outside, the lack of roof meant it would likely continue with no signs of stopping. Looking back at the infant crying loudly, they gathered round the infant and tried to calm her down, saying things like "it's okay, Lily" and "don't cry", but it was to no avail. Although she didn't know her as well as her brother and wasn't related, Jordan still found it upsetting to see Lily cry like this, so she came up with an idea. She grabbed her plush penguin, moved so that she was kneeled down in front of Lily's stroller and said, "don't cry, Lily" in a silly voice, holding up the penguin for her to see. Although her nose was a bit runny and her eyes were still teary, Lily stopped crying long enough to look at the penguin. "I don't want to see you cry! It makes me sad!" Lily began to giggle at Jordan's attempt to cheer her up, which made her siblings smile. "Oh, dear. You've made a bit of a mess. We better clean you up!" Jordan then took a tissue from her table and used it to wipe up Lily's snot and tears, putting it on the empty pizza box before holding her penguin up again. "That's better! Now, no more tears, okay?"

Lily nodded, which made Jordan smile. Impressed Lori tapped her on the shoulder and asked, "how did you manage that? You got her to stop crying so easily! It usually takes us, like, literally ten minutes or more!"

A small blush hued her cheeks. "Honestly, I just… acted, I guess," was all she could say to answer her.

"Well, you're a _dab _hand at it!" Luan joked, following it up with a chuckle and a "get it?"

Her sisters and brother all groaned, while Jordan just rolled her eyes, before she faced the white haired boy. "Hey, Lincoln, could you hold this for me?" She asked, holding out her penguin. "I wanna go and get Lily a new balloon."

"You don't have to do that," Lori assured her, but Jordan shook her head.

"It's fine. Besides, it'll make her happy."

"Well… Alright. If you're sure you don't mind." After nodding back, Jordan handed the penguin to Lincoln, then took hold of Lily's stroller and began to walk away. Once shenwas out of earshot, Lori and her sisters all turned to Lincoln. "Lincoln, you've literally got to tell her how you feel!"

"She's so perfect for you!" Leni gushed, her hands cupped together against her cheek.

"I know," he replied, almost sighing, "but… I don't know if she feels the same way."

"Are you nuts?" Lynn refuted. "Stinkoln, she's putting up with us after she asked YOU to hang out with her. She's totally into you!"

"It's so obvious!" Lola stated in a matter-of-fact way. "The only one who can't tell is you, apparently."

"Well…" He rubbed the back of his neck, his head now exhibiting conflicting emotions. "I don't… I don't know, girls."

"Linc," Luna spoke, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You gotta stop thinking about it, and just listen to your heart."

"Trust us on this, Lincoln," Luan added. "All jokes aside, if it's what makes you happy, go for it."

He opened his mouth to speak, but seeing the soft smiles his sisters were giving him- even his typically stoic goth and PhD sisters- his heart seemed to be speaking louder to him now. "… I'll consider it, okay? Just…"

"Don't worry," Lori told her little brother. "It's all up to you, okay?"

He nodded. "Thanks, girls."

"Okay, we're back," they heard Jordan call, dispersing and turning to see her return with Lily, the infant now delicately pulling on a string tied to her stroller that was attached to a purple balloon. "There was a small queue, but we got there. I made sure to tie it to the stroller so it wouldn't float off this time."

"That's really sweet of you Jordan," the eldest Loud girl replied as she walked up, bending forward to look at her baby sister. "What do you say, Lily?"

"'Ank you, 'Orda!" Lily did her best to say, making the girl's heart swell.

"Aww… you're welcome, Lily."

While everyone smiled at how well Jordan got on with the baby, Lincoln looked at his friend and couldn't help but think, 'you are amazing, Jordan'.

* * *

After everyone finished their lunch, they continued on their separate ways around the zoo, with Lincoln and Jordan first heading to the American animal area. There were a bunch of cool animals to see there, but the ones that stuck out the most to them were the bisons, who were surprisingly gentle creatures who even allowed Jordan to pet their fluffy dark manes, and the grey wolf pack, who looked really majestic, and even when they play fought, Lincoln couldn't help but think they reminded him of his sisters and him. They then walked through the Arctic area, where Jordan couldn't resist comparing Lincoln's white hair to the snowy fur of the Arctic Fox and the polar bears, which had both kids laughing. From there, they went to the last area, which was where the African animals were- gazelles, zebras, flamingos, wildebeests, antelopes and all sorts of different animals, but none of them compared to the mighty lions, which looked as majestic as one could imagine.

Once they were done there, Lori texted them that it was time to go, so they got on the train that would take them around the zoo and back to the entrance. The two sat together and watched as the train took them past all the animals that they had seen, as well as a couple that they hadn't seen, and during the ride, both kids blushed when Jordan decided to snuggle up to the white haired boy, but neither minded, even when some of their sisters saw it as the train arrived near the zoo entrance and decided to take some pictures. After a quick trip to the gift shop, the Louds and Jordan clambered back into Vanzilla, with Lincoln again insisting that Jordan get the sweet spot, before leaving the zoo behind.

Eventually, the van pulled to a stop in the driveway of Jordan's house. "Well, this is me," she said. "Thank you for letting me come with you today, you guys. I had so much fun."

"We were happy to have you with us," Lori assured the girl. "And you're welcome to come round and hang out at our place if you feel like it."

"I'll keep that in mind." She then looked at Lincoln. "So… I'll, uh… see you later?"

"Uh… Yeah, sure," he replied, giving a small smile.

"Okay." She gave the boy a quick hug which he returned, before undoing her seatbelt and stepping out of the van, Lincoln watching as she walked towards her house.

"Sorry, bro," Lincoln heard Luna say from the seat behind him. "You'll get your chance."

"…" He heard Lori start to turn on the engine, and when she did, something just clicked in his mind. "Don't feel sorry for me yet." As quickly as the girls realised what he was doing, he undid his seatbelt and got out of the van, just as Jordan opened the front door. "Jordan!"

She heard him call out to her, and turned around to see him walk up to her. "Lincoln?" She asked. "What's up?"

"I… I have to tell you something! I wasn't sure if I should, but I know that if I don't, I'm going to regret it!"

She could tell that he was nervous, but when he said that, she felt as if time was starting to slow down. "Okay… What is it?"

"I… the truth is…" He clenched his first to ensure that he didn't back down. "I like you!" Her heart skipped a beat at this, her eyes widening in surprise. "I really like you, Jordan! Whenever I'm around you, I feel… so unbelievably happy, and… I was wondering if… if you would… if…"

Though she wanted so badly to hear what else he had to say, she could see that he was struggling, so she decided to help him out. "Lincoln?" She asked, getting his attention. "Can I say something?" Although his mind instantly began to fear the worst, he nodded, prompting her to step forward and take his hand in hers. "When I got to your house this morning, I was about to knock on the door when I heard you talking with your sisters, I… I heard what you said." Feeling even more fearful, he gulped, but still allowed the girl, who was now looking at her feet, to continue. "And, when I heard you say those words… a-about me… I have to be honest, Lincoln…" She looked up again, allowing him to see that her cheeks were red, her eyes were misty, and her lips were smiling. "I have never felt as happy as I did then."

And just like that, his fears and worries melted away. "You… you did?"

She nodded. "Lincoln… I like you too. For the longest time now, whenever I've been around you… I wanted to tell you how I felt, but I was scared of how you would react, and that you wouldn't feel the same way. You've always made me feel like I was pretty, even when I didn't think so myself."

Lincoln couldn't help but smile at that, his own eyes misting up. "Jordan… that's because you ARE pretty. I've always thought so. I just thought that you were way too good for someone like me."

She gave a giggle as her cheeks heated up even more from his compliment. "Lincoln, you're the greatest guy I know. You're kind, you're smart, you're cute."

"M-me? C-c-cute?"

She nodded, giggling even more at how much he was blushing. "Yeah. Especially with your white hair. It makes you look so unique."

"Really?"

"Totally. But, more than that, you're such a nice guy. I always thought that, a nice guy like you… you could ask any girl out, and they'd say yes. So, why me?"

"Because… you're the only girl I want to ask out. I guess what I'm saying is… Jordan… will you be my girlfriend?"

The tears started to pour out as she nodded. "Nothing would make me happier. In fact…"

She took hold of his other hand, and moved forward, pressing her lips against his. Lincoln was shocked at first, but melted into it and returned the kiss, making Jordan's leg lift up behind her. Neither acknowledged anything else- not the fact they were in the open, not the fact her family were inside and could see them, not the fact his sisters were squealing louder than they had ever squealed before. All that mattered was that in that moment, they were the happiest they had ever been in their entire lives. When they did eventually separate, they panted for breath, their gazes locked together and their smiles big.

"So…" Lincoln said first. "I, uh… I'm not sure what to say right now."

She laughed heartily at his statement, only making both kids smile more. "You're so cute, Lincoln," she replied, making his blush grow more than he could've feasibly imagined. "Well, I promised mom I'd help her with the garden once I got back, so I better go. How about we go on our first real date, say, Friday?"

"Sounds good. I'll give you a call once I've thought about what we can do, and when I can pick you up."

"I'll be waiting for it." She placed a kiss against his cheek, and he placed one on hers. "I'll see you later, Lincoln."

"You too, Jordan."

With that, he waved as she walked into her house, waiting for her to close the door before let out the biggest, happiest sigh he could. As he walked back to Vanzilla, he could hear his sisters cheering him and applauding him, and as he got in, they wasted no time in saying how proud they were of him, and what they think he should do for his first date with Jordan. Lincoln, on the other hand, just melted into his seat, the most goofy, lovesick smile on his face, and there was only one word that, if he could think, he could use to describe what he was feeling:

Ecstasy.

**THE END**


End file.
